


Awake and Kicking

by crayonbreakygal, wesfan1234 (crayonbreakygal)



Category: Angel - Fandom
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-29
Updated: 2011-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-15 04:46:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/wesfan1234
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Dreams" and "Nightmares". Faith and Wesley have more troubles than they can deal with. Add pregnancy, slayers, and hormonal teenagers and what do you get?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Slayer Central

Title: Awake and Kicking

Author: WesFan1234 or crayonbreakygal

Summary: Sequel to "Dreams" and "Nightmares". Faith and Wesley have more troubles than they can deal with. Add pregnancy, slayers, and hormonal teenagers and what do you get?

Pairings: Wesley/Faith, Connor/Dawn, and I may pair up Willow with someone else. Just not feeling the love for Kennedy.

Rating: R for strong language (as always, it's Faith's fault, along with her buddy, good ole' Wes), some sexual situations, and violence (those Americans, way too much violence)

Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing them from the mega genius that is Joss and Tim and David and etc., etc. Do I need to go on? I only own the slayers that I have created.

Note: This is the sequel to "Dreams" and "Nightmares". Hey, gotta give you guys so closure. So you have to read the other stories to know what's happening. Total AU story taking place after Connor killed Jasmine in "Peace Out". So no Lilah making her offer, no taking Cordy hostage. Connor runs off to find himself and LA goes to pieces, making the demon war possible. So I changed "Peace Out". Sue me. Thanks to all that read before. You guys are great reviewers. So here's the rest of my version of the future for them. Please review any time. I need feedback!

 

Chapter One – Slayer Central

Faith's heart was pounding a mile a minute. She was about to enter the danger zone known as Slayer Central. It was what she had named the place in Cleveland. She had endured the set-up for a while. The problem was the privacy, which was what she wanted in spades right at the moment. But the man standing beside her was having none of it. She had wanted to go back to Los Angeles, but it was still a complete mess.

"You're OK?" Wesley asked her again for the tenth time.

"You know, after the third time, it really does get old. Yes, I am for the tenth time."

"Didn't mean to sound redundant, love. You just seem . . . ."

"Agitated? Yeah, that I am. How would you feel if you lived in a dorm with twenty or so other slayers, all of which were teenagers. And girls. You think that my hormones are a problem at the moment. Wait until you experience it."

Wesley squeezed her hand a little tighter. Maybe he was feeling a little apprehensive. His mind was calm and in control. He hadn't experienced any more side effects in the last week, thank goodness. She was just afraid that the worst wasn't over for the two of them.

A girl screeched behind them, bringing them both out of that calm, cool and collected place.

"Faith. Where have you been?" Fourteen-year-old Denise could be such a girl, Faith thought. Blonde and pixie, she looked to be ten.

"Den, I'm fine. No screeching please."

"Who's he?"

"He's the more mentally stable, not so extra stubbly looking Marlboro Man who actually looks like he's gotten some sleep this time," a familiar voice echoed from behind them.

Wesley actually chuckled at the wicca's assessment of him. He must be feeling better.

"And here I thought that I was just his first cousin," Wesley replied as Willow walked to them, hugging each in turn.

Faith had missed this joke completely. She had just thought it was just Willow rambling like only Willow could. Maybe there was something to her analogy?

"I see you found our errant slayer. You gave the man a scare, Faith."

"Keeps him on his toes. How's things?"

Faith wanted everything to be peachy keen. She knew though by the look on Willow's face, that everything was not so keen.

"No joy yet. But I think I'm getting closer. Don't worry. It'll come to me. We can put our heads together on this now that the two of you are here."

"OK, no one's answered my question," Denise asked.

"And no one's gonna. Go away," Faith told her, annoyed as hell.

And Wesley couldn't be as rude as she was. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."

"Denise Roberts. Faith's pain in the butt."

"And here I thought that crown went to me," Wesley quipped.

"Very funny. Den, run along. The adults need to talk."

"But why?" Oh, how did Faith not miss the whining? It was much worse than Dawn ever was. And she wasn't around Dawn that much in her whining phase.

"Denise, it's late and I thought you had some studying to do?" Willow patiently asked.

"Yeah. I do. See ya," Denise said as she ran out of the room. Which meant only one thing – that the young slayer would run and tell everyone in the place that Faith brought someone with her back to Slayer Central.

* * *

"No screaming," Faith whispered in his ear right after she bit his earlobe. Him, scream? She was dreaming. She was the one who tended to be very loud during their time in bed.

"You're the one who's loud, my dear," he pointed out.

"I'm also the one with slayer muscles, buddy. Remember that."

Wesley chuckled. He remembered quite well how she had last used those muscles. And her pregnancy had made her definitely insatiable. Not that he didn't like having sex with Faith. It was just that it was four o'clock in the morning.

"Don't worry. I have a good memory. Are you done?"

"What do you mean, am I done?"

"Well, you woke me up for something," he moaned as she bit his neck.

"I was havin' this dream, about you as a matter of fact."

"You don't say." At least the dream hadn't been bloody. Or maybe it had.

"Ha. Not funny. No blood. I woke up too soon for that."

Faith worked her way down to his chest, slightly pulling on the hair. Good God, she'd kill him before the pregnancy was over with, he thought.

"You'll die happy."

"I believe you once told me that."

The way Faith was grinding against him, he knew that fast would be better. And since she was the one who woke him up out of a dreamless, comfortable sleep, he'd better hurry up the process.

He guided her over him, showing her without words what he wanted her to do. Her body was ready for him. The sight above him was intoxicating, as only Faith could be. She kept up a brutal pace, knowing exactly what he wanted. The link was still as strong as ever. Made for some interesting times in bed with her.

As she brought him over the brink and lost herself to it too, something pricked his mind. Something wasn't right. His chest tightened, flashes of memory seeping into his blissful state. Why on earth would those thoughts come up now?

His skin started to tingle just a little, then he felt what he thought was a knife slide into his skin. Two pictures presented themselves in front of him. Faith as she was now, coming down from her high and Faith as his torturer. As the knife slid in again, he gasped for air, not wanting to make a sound, just as he hadn't back then. It wouldn't be good if he showed her his pain.

"Wes, what's wrong?" she called to him, voice now far off.

"What's wrong, Wesley? Not feeling it enough," Faith's other voice taunted him. "I know of so many ways to make it hurt."

His hands automatically came up around the real Faith's throat and squeezed tight. This was what he had wanted to do at the time. To be able to stop Faith's madness, her descent into hell with one squeeze. But he hadn't been able to stop her. She was stronger, faster then. Now he was.

"Wes," Faith croaked out. Her hands came up around his own, trying to pry them away.

She had tied him down to a chair and tortured him for hours. His body burned wherever her hands touched. Too many cuts across his body, too much blood had escaped. He couldn't stop her. No one could stop her. Not even Angel. She needed to die.

Her punch wasn't unexpected. He wondered when she'd get around to stopping him. But it didn't hurt the way he had expected it to. And he just kept squeezing, willing the old Faith to go away for good. It was her high-pitched scream that escaped her closing windpipe that broke whatever spell that had been holding him. He loosened his hand and dropped it beside him on the bed.

Faith rolled off of him and huddled in a corner, trying to get her breath back. Wesley felt like he had woken up from a bad dream, his hands shaking. Running for the bathroom to vomit, he glanced at Faith for just a moment. She looked terrified. What had he done? After losing what was left in the contents of his stomach, he laid his head down on the cool tile and drifted back to unconsciousness, not realizing that he may have hurt Faith.

* * *

Faith pushed herself up off the floor right after Wes exited towards the bathroom. He had just tried to kill her. No doubt about that, she thought as she rubbed her sore neck. The look in his eyes, like he wanted her dead, made her shiver. She picked up her robe and ran from the room, wanting to find Willow.

Moments later, Faith was standing in a dark hallway in front of the wicca's door, pounding away.

"Oh man, there better be an apocalypse or something for waking me up at this hour," Faith heard Willow say as she opened her door.

"Faith," Willow started. "This better be good."

"Something's wrong with Wes," she managed to get out before Willow took her by the arm.

"Well, he's a little grumpy, but that's to be expected and all."

"He just tried to kill me."

"Oh, not what I expected. Should I wake the others?"

Faith motioned for Willow to follow her. "No, I think he had another one of those episodes. Kind of freaked out."

"Been there, done that, got left with some not so fun party favors."

Faith let Willow in to the room. Immediately Willow looked at the slayer, curiosity on her face. "What?" Faith asked.

"Weird. Smells like cinnamon. See, there's always a residual smell after powerful dark magicks are used. Mine's strawberries. Didn't know about any others."

Faith shuddered. Wes hadn't been touching any kind of dark magicks. Just still must be those damned aftereffects. When would he ever get rid of those?

"He didn't use any magick as far as I know."

"Well, if it was just more withdrawals, then you should be safe for now."

Safe for now? The man tried to strangle her, during sex. If that wasn't crazy, Faith didn't know what was.

"He's in the bathroom."

Faith didn't want to go in there alone. She wanted backup if he wanted to ring her neck again. Willow popped her head through the door, then came right back out.

"Really naked guy in there. You might want to grab a blanket or something. Not that I care or anything, but hey, he's your boyfriend. And it's Wes, which just wigs me out even more."

How did Willow know about the two of them? Well, probably talked to Xander and/or Giles and sharing a room were two clues.

"Who told you?" Faith asked as she pushed the door open to the bathroom gently with her foot.

The blanket she held was deposited over Wes. She could see that he was breathing slowly, but normally. At least the withdrawal hadn't caused any other problems.

"I just didn't fall off the turnip truck, Faith. I saw the two of you making lovey-dovey eyes at each other. Besides, Xander has a great big mouth."

Willow bent over to check Wesley.

"Is he . . . ?"

"Alive? Yeah. Although when he wakes up, he probably won't remember much of what happened. I went through much of the same thing the first time I used too much magicks."

Willow led the slayer back out of the bathroom, pulling the door almost closed.

"When is this going to be over with?" Faith wondered as she pulled her robe closer to her body. She could not handle a repeat of what happened tonight.

"It depends on how strong the magicks were when he used them. It took me weeks to come off of them the first time. Months after I tried to destroy the world."

"Ever try to kill anyone because of them?"

"Yeah. Giles was usually on the receiving end of the withdrawals. I can set up a protection spell for you. It'll last for a while, probably long enough for him to come out of it. Faith, it wasn't him."

Faith didn't understand it at all. It was Wesley who tried to strangle her. He wanted her dead. It just wasn't this Wesley. It was the Wesley that she had hurt those years ago. He had just wanted to stop her from hurting him.

"Yeah. Set up some sort of protection spell. I wouldn't want him to hurt anyone in his condition."

Faith felt the situation spiral out of her control. The magicks stuff had always frightened her. Now she was handing control over to Willow.

"We're here. You know that. You don't have to go through this alone."

"I'm scared," Faith cried. "He saved my life using that stuff. Now he has to suffer the consequences."

Faith never thought in a million years that Willow would hug her. Willow always had hugs for Buffy, Xander, even Giles at times, but the two had never gotten along that well. When the First had wrecked havoc on Sunnydale, their relationship had changed somewhat. And now here she was, depending on Willow to help her solve all of her problems. Things never surprised her any more.

"It will get better. From what I can tell, he's not suffering unless he has an episode. That is good. You just need to take it slow. Giles will be here in a few days. And we will find a way to cure the two of you."

"And if you don't?"

"Hey, positive energy." Willow looked at her with that resolve face, like she knew what was best for Faith.

Faith didn't know what was best for Faith. Damn, she didn't know what to do. Her lover had tried to kill her right after they had sex, he was coming down from some wicked-ass magicks, their mental connection was stronger than ever, which could potentially kill them. And to top it all off, she was really, really hungry right that instant because the damn asshole in the bathroom passed out on the floor had gotten her pregnant. How else could her life get any more complicated?

"Oh, and Giles said that Dawn and Connor were coming with."

Now her life was more complicated. Hormonal teenagers, hormonal slayers. Such an ugly combination. She needed a sandwich in the worst way.

"Hungry?" she asked the witch.

 


	2. Slayer Central

Chapter Two – Do We Ever Get a Break?

Wesley awoke with a roaring headache the size of New Hampshire. He opened his eyes to find that he had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor. At least he had the sense to get a blanket. When he looked down, he noticed that he wasn't clothed. Now that was odd, he thought. Reaching up to touch his face, he felt what was now a great, big bump on his cheek.

He staggered as he lifted himself up off the cold tile floor. In the mirror, he could see the bruisey bump in all its glory. It covered almost all of one side of his face. He must have run into the doorjamb late last night coming to the bathroom. His stomach did flip flops as he reached around him to pull the blanket tight.

As he walked into the bedroom, something tugged at the back of his mind. There was something that he should remember, something that he did yesterday. As he looked at the clock, he noticed that it was almost noon. He never slept in that late. Must have been a rough night, he thought to himself.

The room was making his head a little dizzy, so he sat on the edge of the bed to collect himself before finding some clean clothes. Sitting down on the bed, the dizziness increased in strength until he collapsed on the bed, closing his eyes to try and stop it. Then the vision of last night hit him full force. His hands around Faith's neck, her trying to stop him, her fist meeting his face, his retreat into the bathroom. No wonder he felt dizzy. And no wonder the woman in question wasn't there when he woke up.

"Hey, big guy. You OK?" the woman in question asked him quietly.

"Faith, what happened last night?"

"You had another episode."

Wesley opened his eyes to see the bruising on her neck. He had put that there. His hands had almost strangled her to death because of some damn withdrawal. He reached up to touch the spot that he had abused just the night before.

"I did that to you?"

"Can't deny it. Yeah. But it's OK. Willow did a protection spell. No violence against me."

Wesley closed his eyes again, grateful that the witch was here in Cleveland and not some far off country. If he couldn't protect Faith, then Willow was the next best thing.

"We never get a break, do we?"

"Don't worry. It'll come. It has to."

He was glad she was so confident with that statement. Although when he looked into her eyes, he noticed that she wasn't.

 _You're not sure about that, are you?_

 _No, not. Just wanted to say it out loud._

"Hungry?"

"Yes, a little."

"You should be after being Mr. Barfo last night. Go take a shower. Then we'll scrounge up some grub. You'll feel like yourself in no time."

Faith pulled him up gently and placed a kiss on the top of his head. "I haven't felt like myself in quite some time."

"Well, I'll just take better for now."

Wesley shook his head to clear the cobwebs as he walked to the bathroom to do as Faith ordered.

"Oh, by the way. Willow thinks you have a cute butt. Just thought you'd like to know."

His eyes widened with shock. Why should it surprise him one bit that Willow had been called after his episode? She was the expert in these matters. He didn't know if he could look her in the eye now that she'd seen him unclothed. And Faith had found it quite funny at his duress. He guessed that was payback for the fact that he had tried to kill her the night before.

* * *

Hell on earth, was all he could think of as he and Faith arrived in what was the kitchen for Slayer Central. Girls, everywhere. Screaming, screeching, laughing, singing, talking, all very, very loud. No wonder it drove Faith up the wall. Wesley winced as Faith pushed him down in a chair to get them some food. Eyes turned his way, several pointed, but the noise didn't lessen much.

"Oh, boy," Willow said as she walked up to him.

Wesley started to blush, not knowing what to say to the woman in front of him. "Willow. How are you this morning, I mean this afternoon?"

"Fine. Peachy keen. You?" she stuttered.

"Like a truck ran over me. Or a slayer put her fist through my face."

"Well, it looks OK," Willow grimaced as she sat down across from him at a table.

Faith slammed down two plates full of food in front of him. She dragged a chair over and sat down very close to him, digging into the second plate with gusto. The thought of food at the moment turned his stomach. But since Faith was eating for two, she ate with abandon. He swallowed hard, remembering that no one else knew their little secret.

"Damn straight," Faith answered in turn. "Now eat. It'll help the queasies."

"Yeah. Fernando's a great cook," Willow chimed in, trying to lighten the situation.

Wesley took a tentative bite, agreeing with Willow's assessment of the cook. "Sorry about the, you know," he told Willow.

"Yeah. I'm not the one you should apologize to. But we all know that it wasn't your fault. You went a little crazy. No more crazies, I promise."

"Willow, you cannot promise something like that. You do not know what this thing will manifest itself into."

Willow ducked her head, not wanting to look the ex-watcher in the eyes. "I do know. And I do promise that it'll get better. Just eat, and then we'll go over exactly what kind of magicks you used." The two ate quietly while Willow watched and asked questions about their trip.

"Faith. Glad to have you back in one piece," a very masculine voice said from behind Wesley.

"Glad to be in one piece. It was touch and go there for a little while."

Wesley's muscles tensed, knowing exactly who the man behind Faith and he was. Faith took a hold of his hand underneath the table to steady him. She was blocking all but the most innocuous emotions from coming out, but Wesley knew her better than that. She wanted to avoid a confrontation at all costs with the man behind them.

"So who's this guy that all the ladies are talking about?"

Wesley sneered a little, moving Willow back a little from the table with just a look.

"Hey, good sneer. Much better than Giles's by a mile," she whispered.

Faith scooted her chair out from underneath the table to make the proper introductions, or just to put herself in between the two men. He couldn't tell which. He'd be civil to the man because of Faith's condition. At least when she was around to see.

"Don't even try it, buddy," she told him as he got up to join her.

Fighting alongside Gunn and Angel had prepared him for a bigger opponent. Gunn, especially since he was built like a tank. The man in front of him was built very much like Gunn in every way. But he knew from Faith's stories that Spike had taken him down in a fight. Wesley could too.

"Robin, this is Wesley. Wesley, Robin."

Robin stuck out his hand in a civilized fashion. "Robin Wood."

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce." Wesley took his hand and shook it, dropping it after the prerequisite time. He could be civilized too, for the most part. Damn, why couldn't he be Xander's size.

"Nikki's boy. She was a lovely lady."

"You met my mother?"

"Briefly. When I was very young. She made quite an impression on me."

"Yeah, she was like that."

They had some common ground. That didn't mean that Wesley liked the man just because his mother had been a slayer.

"Faith? Ready to train?"

Faith coughed slightly, not knowing what to say. "I can't. Still recovering. Actually I have an appointment with the doc this afternoon, for a check-up."

Wesley looked into her eyes, knowing that she was worried about everything. She had taken some hits to the stomach during the last fight, plus with the knife wound, she hoped that nothing had jeopardized the little bundle.

 _Would you like me to come with you?_

 _Hah, of course. You got me into this, you horny SOB._

He had to smile at that. Not like he didn't have help in that category. As they stared at each other, the other two adults shifted around uncomfortably.

"So, I, um, talked to Brianna's mother. She wasn't too happy with what happened. Not that she ever cared about the girl in the first place. She's thinking of suing."

Faith suddenly started rubbing her palms on her jeans, like she was getting nervous about the conversation. Tears formed in her eyes. Then she bolted from the room as fast as a jackrabbit.

"Hey, what . . . ?" Willow called as Wesley headed off to catch Faith.

"Faith?" Wesley looked all around for his ever-disappearing slayer. Since he didn't know the building very well, he didn't know the first place to look. As he walked through the corridors, he finally heard sobs coming from a deserted stairwell off to his right.

"Faith?" he quietly called out, not wanting to alert anyone else to her whereabouts.

As he opened the stairwell door, he saw and felt Faith's anguish at not being able to save the young slayer. Guilt racked her mind.

"You were not responsible," he immediately told her as he sat down beside her on the stairs.

"But I didn't protect her. She wasn't ready. Dammit, Wes. She wasn't ready." Faith leaned her tear-streaked face into his chest, sobbing out her guilt with each tear.

"We'll just make sure it doesn't happen again," he whispered into her hair.

Faith climbed into his lap, holding tight around him to the point he almost couldn't breath. But the feelings that he felt coming from her were strong. Who knew that this woman could feel these things, where not more than four years ago, she had not known how to handle the least little problem? He was so glad that she had changed her tune for the better. They wouldn't be together if she hadn't.

"I heard that," she told him as she raised her head to look at him.

"I am proud of you." He kissed her tear-stained cheek. Faith was his now, withdrawals, connections and ex-boyfriends be damned.

* * *

"OK, now what was that about?" Robin asked as Faith exited, quickly followed by Wesley.

Should Willow tell the man that Faith was head-over-heels or let him find out for himself? Willow knew that the two were not only linked mentally and physically, but most other ways as well. Yay for Faith, she thought. Now why did she feel like such a dolt? Her heart was breaking and no one knew anything. Robin would feel what she felt not two weeks before very soon.

Kennedy was gone. Told her to go take a flying leap and never see her again. Well, not that she hadn't seen it coming, but the words had made it all seem too real and raw. She'd pick up the pieces very slowly, one at a time.

Maybe helping Faith and Wesley would take her mind off of it somehow. And Giles was coming to help. He always made her feel special. And she'd get to see Dawnie and Angel's son. Only, Giles would know just by looking at her that something was wrong. He knew her too well. She'd not be able to keep it from him. He'd be there for her, like he had every other time there had been a crisis in her life. But would he stay for long enough? He was the pat on the back type, and then he leaves when everything seemed to be going great. That was usually when all hell broke loose. She'd just tell him he'd have to stay longer and help her fix the great, big, gaping hole in her heart.

* * *

Faith had escaped one great big loud girl fest for one great big, screaming children fest at the doctor's office. Children could be loud and obnoxious. She knew that. Had been around some of that. But did they have to scream while they were sick? It was probably just the hormones that made it bother her, she thought.

"OK, I can do this," she whispered encouragement to herself.

Wesley was parking the car down the street, so Faith had decided to go in by herself to tell them she had arrived. Would have been much better with the big guy by her side to steady her, she thought. Hindsight, twenty, twenty and all that now. She waved to the receptionist to tell her she was here.

She found a seat with another right beside it and eased down in it. A child with a doll toddled on over and plopped down right in front of her and grinned.

"Hey ya, kid," she asked. The child just stared back. "Probably can't talk to strangers. I get it."

"No, but you're pretty. Just like a princess."

Well, that was nice. Girls can be nice when they want to be. "So why are you here?"

"My brother's getting his shots today. He'll scream. That's what babies do."

"And you know something about babies?"

The girl showed Faith her doll, which didn't have any clothes on and looked to have been dragged through the dirt a few too many times.

"This is my baby. You have to take really good care of babies, so they don't cry and stuff."

The little girl was so cute. She talked a little too much, but cute nonetheless.

"Sari, don't bother the nice woman," the girl's mother called.

The girl grinned again, then walked back to her mother and baby brother. Wesley entered not two minutes after. Overwhelmed much, as Cordelia would say. Wesley stood at the door, like a deer in the headlights, looking for Faith. And he had taken care of Connor for months. Oh boy, they were doomed.

He waved and made his way over, dodging two boys wrestling on the floor. He sat down beside her, looking around at the chaos in the waiting room.

"Did you check in?"

"Yeah, I waved to Judy on the way in. She knows me."

"Faith, this is not a pediatrician is it? Isn't it a little early for that?"

"No, doofus. This is the clinic where I bring all the baby slayers. It must be shots day or somethin'. Explains the level of noise."

Wesley winced at the same time she did.

"It can't be that bad, you know. Havin' a kid and all. Do they really make this much noise when they're little?"

"They can be loud. Connor was a good baby, but add up all of the confusion, and chaos is bound to reign."

"Huh?" Her mind was so not on translating the Wesley-speak she had just heard.

"Lots of children, all waiting for shots. Not a good combination."

"So when this one needs shots, then you'll take it," Faith said with finality.

Wesley's eyes opened wide at the concept. "Yes, I believe that I could do that. I think," he said.

"Hey, Faith. Doc told me to tell you to come on in," Judy the receptionist waved to her.

"Do you want me to come in? I mean, if you don't, I can wait out here. That is, if that's what you want, because I can."

"You're babbling Wes. Get your ass up now."

One of the children looked up at her and frowned. "You're not supposed to say bad words. That's what my mom says," the boy told her as she walked to the door.

"Cute kid," Wesley said as he grinned back. "He's right, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Faith conceded, knowing that he was totally right. She'd have to change her methods of dress, her language. She'd get fat and flighty. What the hell was she doing? Wesley grabbed her hand and opened the door for her to enter.


	3. Best Friends

Chapter Three – Best Friends

Cordelia sat in her apartment, which lucky for her hadn't been destroyed, waiting for Angel to come back from some meeting. He was helping with getting rid of the rest of the bad demons in Los Angeles. He and Riley actually made a good team when they got through that anger over Buffy.

No one had rented her apartment after she had been moved out by the gang when she became the higher being. No one wanted to live with a ghost, so it had sat empty for quite some time. Now she was back in familiar surroundings, with people who cared for her. So why did she feel like crap?

Maybe because one out of two of her best friends hated her guts. She had done something stupid, just trying to help. And had bungled it royally. Not that he hadn't bungled things royally either, but hey, this was probably on par with his royal fuck-ups. No wonder Wesley skipped town quickly.

"Hey," Angel called out, scaring her for the umpteenth time in her life. The man moved so quietly, even a mouse couldn't hear him. She just growled at him for the interruption to her thought processes.

"I have good news," Angel told her as he sat with her on the dusty couch.

Cordy hadn't felt too much like cleaning since they had arrived at the apartment. Dennis didn't exactly either, since he wasn't talking to her at the moment for abandoning him for so long. The only thing in the apartment was a few sticks of furniture and a couple changes of clothes for her, Angel, Fred and Gunn. And some food and blood. Otherwise, everything they had owned was gone, burned in the fire.

"Kind of need it right now," she said resigned to her fate.

"Wes found Faith. They went to Cleveland. I got through to Willow finally. That line that Soldier Boy set up works."

"Good. That's good."

Cordy didn't feel that things were good, but at least Faith had been found. And Willow was on the case. Giles would be there soon too. All would be well. So why did she still feel like such a clod?

"You know, this funk that you're in? It's OK. Been there before. Many times. It'll pass. You'll be Cordy again. Fun Cordelia." Helpful Angel. What did she do to deserve this, she thought?

"Angel. I sat up in a higher dimension, watched you guys almost get yourselves killed and any time I tried to do something about it, it went kerplooey. And then some damn stupid ass demon thingy decides that he wants me back, so he pulls me down, makes me human, locks me in a cage for a while and tries to sacrifice me to some god so he can be more powerful. So, here I sit. No powers, no visions, no Wes. I screwed up so big this time, I don't know how to fix it."

Angel looked at her, trying to take her speech in, trying to tell her it would all get better. He was having a hard time with it too. "Well, I'm not sure how to fix it either. We'll figure out together. OK? You're back now. For real. Not some smarmy deity who can take over the world with peace and love and no free will. Just us. We will fix it, but it will take time."

Cordelia thought about how Angel had finally forgiven Wesley for taking Connor. Could Wesley forgive her for connecting Faith to him? Dammit, it was those watcher guys who didn't do the thing in the first place. They screwed it up big time way back when. Probably was Wes's father who decided that their link shouldn't be done.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to Wes before he left."

"Faith bolted. He had to get to her, I guess. Though I'm not sure why."

"Oh right. You smelled them. You knew they had the hots for each other since Faith took Angelus's ass down. Don't tell me you're not sure why."

"Oh, not that, Cordy. It's just, it's complicated. The two of them I mean. Just plain weird if you ask me."

"What? No weirder than a vampire falling in love with a slayer? Or a child born from two vampires? No, that isn't weird at all." Sarcasm was something that Cordy could latch onto when she didn't want her real feelings to come out.

"So, it's weird to me. OK?"

"What do we do?"

"Let Giles and Willow handle it for now. He'll forgive you, in time."

Cordelia scowled at the thought. It took her a long time to forgive Wes for taking Connor. And he had tried to do what was right, even though he hadn't told anyone of his fears of the prophecy coming true. She was just doing her job, at the time. What couldn't be forgiven? She just hoped they didn't die because of what she did. That would really suck. And she'd never get to tell Wesley how much she missed him.

* * *

Wesley fidgeted in the lone chair in the examination room, waiting for Faith to change into the paper gown. The last time he had been to the doctor was when his throat was cut. Not pleasant memories. And before that, when Angel had taken Connor to have him checked out by the doctor. It seemed like so long ago, but it wasn't a little more than a year since that all had happened.

It would take nine months, give or take a few days, for the life growing inside of Faith to appear. Now that was scary. He had created something tangible, something that he would have to take care of for the rest of his life. Now he knew exactly how Angel had felt when Darla told him about the baby.

"Damn, I hate these things," Faith grumbled as she came out of the changing room.

He remembered how before he had left Sunnydale for good, visiting Faith in the hospital to see how she was doing. She had a gown very much similar to the one she had on now. Monitors beeped, tubes flowed, but Faith lay still in that bed. Her coma had taken over. Wesley had wished at that point he could have brought her back, made himself a better watcher, and all would have been well again with the world.

But she had woken up, confused and hurting inside and out. No one was there to help her back to the living. She took out her anger and hurt the only way she had known how. By taking it out on the people she loved the most. Buffy, Angel, Cordy, himself, all the people that could have helped her weren't there when she needed them the most. Until Angel had finally snapped something back into place in her world.

"You think too much," she whispered as she placed a kiss on his head, hugging him tight. "It was you, you know. I was ready to let you go right before Angel came charging through that door."

"What?" was all he could say before the doctor came through the door, ready to get down to business.

Faith turned, blocking him out of the intense emotions that were building inside of her. "Hey, doc. How's business?"

"I hate shot day. That's why I have the nurses take over that task. So, how are you?"

"Not bad. Uh, this is Wesley, doc. He's a friend of mine."

Friend? Was Faith afraid of their relationship?

 _Behave, you._

 _Friend?_

 _I can't exactly call you my love. Got to maintain my rep here._

 _Thanks, a whole lot._

He hadn't meant for the last statement to hurt Faith, but she looked at him warily, with a little pleading in her eyes. He'd play along for a while.

"Doctor Martin. It's nice to meet you, Wesley."

Wesley shook the doctor's hand and returned to his seat.

"So, what's up?"

"Got into a tangle not too long ago. Wicked ass knife wound. It's healed, but I wanted you to check it out."

 _Chicken._

 _I'll spill. Just give me a minute._

Faith blushed slightly.

 _Do you want me to leave?_

 _No. I can do this._

"Also, doc. I think, well, no, I know that I um," Faith stuttered.

Wesley wanted to take control. To ask the doctor a million questions, but he wanted Faith to say it out loud. But it didn't look as if she could.

"Faith, if you want me to," he started.

"IthinkI'mpregnantcanyoucheck." There, she'd said it out loud.

"No thinking about it," Wesley mumbled to no one in particular.

"Sure, no problem. What makes you think?"

"Well, mood swings, eating more than humanly possible, getting up at all hours," Wesley went on.

Faith growled at him to stop talking. He just grinned at her attitude. "Just keep talking, watcher boy."

He also wanted to tell the doctor about her slightly rounded belly, plus her sensitivity in several areas, particularly one of her best attributes, but he knew he might get punched for it.

"Shut it," she repeated, very serious with him now.

"We can check, if your friend would like to step outside," the doctor asked.

"No, he can stay. Since it's all his fault in the first place. Remember what I said, Wes. Every _thing_ you will have to go through."

The doctor looked from one to the other. "That's fine. Just let me go get Sandra and we can get started. OK?" The doctor quietly walked out to find the nurse.

"I was trying to help."

"I know. It's just, it's all too real and these mood swings are really crappy, is all."

"If you really want me to go, I do not mind."

"Nah, that's OK. Just don't drive the doc crazy with all those questions running around in your head."

"But we'll need to know what to do if . . . ."

Faith stopped him with a hand in the air. Too much information for Faith put her in overload. She'd need time to adjust to every little thing the pregnancy was doing to her body.

Neither one spoke during the exam, Faith glaring at Wes to not open his mouth. He found this all fascinating, while Faith just wanted to get it over with.

"So," she asked hesitantly.

"I always say a woman's intuition is right. And you are pregnant. But I still want to do all of the blood tests and such, make sure how far along you are."

Wesley didn't feel all that well, watching Faith being prodded by the doctor at every turn. She seemed to take it all in stride. Since he'd been hospitalized too much, going to the doctor wasn't his favorite activity.

"How far along do you think you are? Any idea?" the doctor asked.

"Maybe eight weeks at the most."

"Umm," was all the doctor would said.

"Umm, as in that's interesting, or umm, there's something wrong?"

Wesley could feel his pulse accelerate at the question. Did Faith think something might be wrong?

"No, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong as far as I can tell. You've gained at least ten pounds though, but you always were slender. When the blood test results come back, we'll know more. Tell you what, let's do an ultrasound. We may not be able to pick up much, since you may not be that far along."

The doctor set the ultrasound up, doing all the things that Wesley had done to Darla the one time they wanted to see what exactly she was carrying. When he had done it himself, it seemed like the most mundane procedure in the world. Now he was worried that it would hurt the baby.

"It's totally safe. So just relax and we'll see what we see."

Faith flinched a little at the cold gel on her abdomen. Then Wesley thought about the time that Cordelia had been carrying those demon babies. The ultrasound had been so helpful to tell them that she was carrying something that would ultimately kill her. His stomach became even queasier with that thought.

"Human here," she whispered to Wesley, knowing his thoughts exactly.

"I know."

"Ah, there it is. See," the doctor said, pointing to the screen.

"It's a blob. I'm having a blob."

"It's not that developed yet Faith. Not a blob."

"Well, that's what I see."

The doctor moved the wand around more, searching for something else.

"Hey, you look kinda pale. You OK?" Faith asked Wesley.

"Yes. Just fine."

"Just what I thought," the doctor pointed out. "Listen." She turned the audio up. It seemed they were listening to a symphony of heartbeats. "There's Mom's heartbeat, baby number one's heartbeat."

"What?" Wesley knew what was coming next. You don't number babies unless there is more than one. "Oh dear."

"And baby number two's heartbeat."

"Oh, shit," Faith responded.

Both Faith and the doctor looked down at the floor where Wesley had sunk. "Yep. Gets them every time, Faith," the doctor laughed.

* * *

"You fainted," Faith chided as they stood outside Slayer Central.

"I did no such thing. I was feeling queasy from the food I ate. Just low blood sugar."

"Yeah, right." Faith opened the door. "Dork."

"Bitch."

"Dumbass."

"You know, we are going to have to clean up our language before the babies learn how to talk."

Faith got a little woozy thinking about babies in the plural sense. Damn, why wasn't anything ever easy for the two of them. The doctor was fairly certain there were two fetuses, although she wanted to check the blood tests and have her come back in two weeks.

"So we're overachievers. Look on the bright side." Since there was no other side to look on at the moment, Faith wanted to take the high road.

"Oh, yes. There is a bright side to this. I am currently unemployed, no place to live, our professions are as such that either of us could be maimed or killed at any time, and we have just found out that we will have not one mouth to feed but two."

"You, you, I hate you," Faith screamed as she ran off right in front of Willow.

"What did I say? Faith, come back."

"Hey, Wes. Not a happy slayer I see. Everything go OK at the doctors?"

"Just fine, perfectly absofuckinglutely fine."

Willow snickered a little at Wesley's attempt at swearing. "Don't worry. Faith was just blowing off some steam. She'll be fine once she kills something."

Wesley glared at her, not answering. "Tell you what? You want me to talk to her? Just say the word. Also, I need your help on those texts I was telling you about. Lots of demony languages that I have no idea what they may be saying. You up for it?"

"Sure. Sorry, I don't usually take things out on people. Let's look at what you have, shall we?"

* * *

Faith entered the main training room in a huff. Wesley just didn't understand her. She was guessing it was because he had a penis, but that was just a guess. A couple of the girls looked her way, but stayed back, knowing Faith's moods were not to be messed with.

"Faith, I'm glad you're back. There's two more girls to train. And the others that were injured will be coming back soon, so we need to be ready," Robin said as he approached.

"I can't train, Robin. Find someone else," she told him, walking away.

Robin grabbed her arm to stop her forward momentum. "We need to talk."

"No, you need to let go of my arm before I break yours."

Robin sighed, dropping her arm immediately. "You want to tell me what's going on?"

"None of your business."

Robin's eyes widened. "I thought."

"Well, you thought wrong."

Faith could see the anger well up on Robin's face. She really didn't give a shit about how he felt right that moment.

"Faith, I'm your watcher. You need to listen to me."

"What?" she shouted. "You're my what? Where the hell did you get that?"

"The new council put me in charge here, remember? That makes me your watcher."

"Fuck that. I am not one of those teenage girls who needs someone to babysit them."

Robin stood next to Faith, knowing that she could clean his clock at any moment, but choosing to use his size anyway. The need to hit something welled up in her, but she tamped it down quickly. With everything that she had going on, she did not want to get into a pissing match with her former boyfriend. The girls in the room had already stopped what they were doing, watching the proceedings with interest.

"That's not how it works, Faith."

"This is not the time to discuss this, Robin," Faith told him, bringing her voice down so the others could not hear.

"You'll train when I say to train. Got it," he said, wanting to use his authority to get what he wanted.

"What are you going to do, fire me?"

"Just might."

Faith knew he was bluffing. She was the only slayer in Cleveland right now who was fully trained. The rest were just babies. Just like the girls that had been injured or killed in L.A. They'd need someone else to take over for her, like Kennedy or Vi, until she could resume her duties.

"You know what, you training methods fucking suck."

"You are going to take that back."

Robin swung out at her, which she dodged. The freight train that ran right past her and took Robin down though, now that was a surprise.

 


	4. Pinky Swear

Chapter Four – Pinky Swear

"I set up in the library. I brought lots of goodies from Giles's library in England. I just hope it's enough."

Wesley wasn't really listening to Willow ramble on about the books. Typically he would be the one rambling on about the books too. Since Willow was a fellow bookworm, they had something in common, along with the ability to ramble.

Another problem had come up. He felt through the connection that Faith was having a fight with someone. She was trying to stay her anger, and had been successful somewhat.

"Is there a room here with lots of mirrors, Willow?"

"Yeah, the training room right down the hall. Why?"

Wesley took off at a run, not worrying if Willow followed him. He had to get to Faith. He could feel the danger run through her. As he passed a room, he backed up quickly when he saw the flash of dark hair.

"Fuck."

"Wesley, don't," Willow told him as he went rushing in the room.

Just like Gunn or Angel, Robin didn't go down softly. The man had him on weight that was for certain. Robin took the first swing, missing his face by mere inches. They each grappled on the ground for leverage until Wesley was able to flip Robin off of him. Wesley scrambled up, watching the man for any openings. Robin was just as fast, standing quickly.

"Wes, no," Faith yelled at him.

The first blow that Robin landed was on his shoulder because Wesley somewhat blocked the fist from landing on his face. The second blow landed hard on his stomach. The kick that he threw that did not miss, knocking Robin back.

"You can't," Faith screamed at the two again, but Wesley wasn't paying attention.

He blocked another couple of blows from Robin, ducking at the kick he sent Wesley's way. He was good, Wesley thought. The uppercut to the man's chin had already started to bleed, making the floor around them a bit slippery.

"Willow, make them stop," Faith implored the witch.

"I can't just throw a spell their way to make them stop fighting."

"Please," Faith pleaded. "If you don't, it'll hurt me too."

As Willow racked her brain for some kind of spell, a calm voice called her name behind her. Oh, thank God, Willow thought. He'll stop this nonsense before someone really got hurt.

Giles trotted over to the two men circling each other and stood in between, wanting the madness to stop. Willow breathed a sigh of relief, until she saw Wesley try to get around the older watcher.

"Man, he's fast," she said to no one in particular.

"God, he can't keep out of trouble," Connor said as he entered the room to help Giles.

Good, the cavalry, Willow cheered. Faith didn't look too good, so Willow decided that Giles and Connor could take care of it and she could take care of Faith.

"Faith, are you OK?"

"I don't feel so good, Willow." Her face was ashen, which scared Willow even more than the fight.

Faith leaned up against Willow, trying not to fall down. Willow took the smaller woman's weight, putting her arm around her middle. Dawn came up from behind, helping Willow lead the slayer over to a chair on the side of the room.

As Willow watched the scene unfold, she hoped that whatever had possessed Wesley that he would soon stop. Both Connor and Giles were now between the two combatants.

"What's wrong with her?" Dawn asked as they set Faith down in the seat.

"I don't know. I was talking to Wes one minute, then the next all chaos."

"The story of my life."

Both Wesley and Robin had backed off each other, Connor taking Wesley's arm, whispering in the older man's ear.

"Why is it I'm always pulling you off of someone? Haven't you learned your lesson old man?" Connor chided him as he glared at the other man.

"Very funny, Connor. He was attacking Faith. I didn't start it."

"I think Faith can take care of herself," Connor reminded him.

"No, she, Oh God." Wesley turned to see Faith slumped in a chair, face a chalky white.

He ran to her, sliding down on his knees in front of her.

"Wes, something's wrong," Faith told him as tears started to fall.

"I think we should take her to the hospital," Willow suggested.

Wesley took a crying Faith in his arms, lifting her gently. Willow and Dawn followed the two out the door, with Connor bringing up the rear.

"He just attacked me for no reason," Robin blurted out to Giles.

"Did you touch her in any way?" Giles was not pleased at the younger man.

"We were having words. I, we were angry."

"You fool. You have no idea what is happening between those two right now."

"I am her watcher. She does what I tell her to do."

"Wrong. You have never been her watcher. And if you do not make some changes around here, you will not be one at all. Understood?"

"Crystal," Robin answered, eyes hooded from Giles.

"I just hope she isn't injured badly," Giles threw at him as he ran to catch up with the others.

* * *

"No more fighting."

"No more fighting, I swear."

"Pinky swear?"

Faith was joking around with him at the moment, which meant she was feeling better. She lay in the hospital emergency room, looking tired but beautiful. And he had made the biggest mistake by taking on Robin Wood. He had completely forgotten about their link, thereby jeopardizing her and their babies in a few short minutes time.

"Did he hit you?"

"Nah. I was handlin' it."

"I just felt the anger and I was afraid."

Just like he'd been afraid when he saw her on that altar not two short weeks before. The demon had stabbed her. He hadn't been there to protect her. As he sat beside her, he still wondered what he had done to deserve her. She was the one doing all the work and he just watched. Even now, their relationship hadn't changed from that dynamic.

"It's OK," she assured him as he lay his head down on her stomach, wanting to connect with the life growing inside of her.

* * *

Willow watched the scene from the doorway, not wanting to disturb the couple in their quiet moment. How the two of them were actually a couple was a complete mystery to her. Faith was surely not the most reliable of people to be hanging with, but she had gained a certain respect for the slayer from their time fighting together. Obviously so had Wes.

"How are they?" Giles asked from behind her.

"OK, I guess. I'm not sure why Faith collapsed the way she did though."

"Have you found anything more regarding the link?"

As Willow turned, Giles looked down at her expectantly, like she was Answer Girl now. At least he trusted her now, unlike his attitude right after her world-ending spree had happened. He was the one person that she had regretted hurting the most. Buffy could take it, but Giles had been beaten down to the point that he had almost died. And if that had happened, she wouldn't have been able to come back from the place where she had gone. Her grief would have been insurmountable. Tara's had almost crushed her. Giles's would have ruined her.

"I need Wes's translating skills. How was your trip?"

"Please remind me that teenagers actually do grow out of the whining phase."

"Dawn almost drive you to commit homicide?"

"As always. And she has a partner this time. The boy seems to relish in tormenting her to the extreme."

Oh boy, Willow thought. Teenager crushes and hormones. She hoped that she wasn't like that as a teenager. Thinking back to that time only a few short years ago, she remembered many times driving Giles crazy with her actions too.

"Sounds to me like Connor has a crush on her. What is it with Summers women?"

Giles grinned at the thought, knowing Buffy's love for Angel. "So where is Kennedy? I fully expected to see her in the middle of that boxing match."

Willow's eyes widened and she turned so Giles couldn't see the moisture forming in her eyes. "Couldn't take the time off," she mumbled, totally knowing that if Giles caught her in the lie he would not be happy.

"We'll need someone to come take over the duties until Faith is well enough to lead."

"Yeah. Those two are out of commission until we break the link. Wes had another episode."

"Was it bad?"

"Thoroughly bad. I did a protection spell, but those wear off in a couple of hours and they're so specific, and if I do it too often, it won't work anymore, and I don't know what else to do."

Giles took her shoulders, turning her to face him. "I am here now, and we will figure this out together."

"I can't believe I'm actually going to help Faith. Hello, used to be psycho and tried to kill me."

"Well, she tried to kill Wesley also. And look at them now."

"OK, not liking the visual. Let's go look at books. Books are safe to look at."

Giles chuckled at her words. His hold on her shoulders had not been taken away. Willow wished that he would just hold her and tell her that things would get better, like only Giles could. She was even more confused at the visual she was getting in her brain now, and it had nothing to do with the couple in the next room.

He led her down a corridor, out into the fresh sunshine of the late afternoon. The air was nippy, but Willow had come to like the change of seasons, unlike what Sunnydale experienced. She pulled her jacket around her tighter.

"Now that we're out of the hospital, do you want to tell me what is really wrong?"

Oops, busted, Willow thought as she hugged herself even tighter.

* * *

Cordelia didn't know what she would be solving by coming to Cleveland; she just knew it was the right thing to do. Two people she loved, no, one person she loved and the other she tolerated, were suffering for something that she had done. Maybe something in her brain would trigger something in Willow's brain, and they could put their brains together to solve the problem.

As she walked into the building, a receptionist who looked like she could take on Faith and win greeted her. Since the woman had the sourest expression on her face, Cordelia knew she would have to turn on the charm to get into the building.

"Hi, I'm looking for Willow Rosenberg."

"Do you have an appointment?" the battle-axe asked.

"Well, no, but Willow needs my help."

"No appointment. I can't just let you roam the building. School policy."

"Is there a way to call her? I'm an old friend from high school."

"She's not here."

Man, much with the cryptic. Cordelia didn't think that if she asked for Wesley or Faith they would even let her in, much less talk to her.

"How about Rupert Giles? He was on his way here."

"No, sorry."

Dammit, people jumped when Cordelia wanted something. This woman wasn't any help at all.

"Margaret, I'm going out," a tall, very handsome African American man told the receptionist.

Cordelia immediately walked over to him, thinking that he must be someone in charge. "Hi. I'm looking for Willow Rosenberg. You don't happen to know where she might be."

"No clue." Cordelia could see the makings of a mean black eye and some dried blood on his shirt.

"You didn't happen to run into a fist connected to a dark-haired woman with the thirst for violence did you?"

The man's eyes focused on hers more fully. "No, just the mother fucker who's attached to her hip."

Oh good, Cordelia winced. Wes was going around beating up on people now. When had he turned that violent?

"Good looking English guy with blue eyes?"

The man glared at her. "You know him?"

"Well, I used to work with him. Cordelia Chase." She stuck her hand out to shake. The man reluctantly took it into his.

"Robin Wood. And I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"That you had to work with that asshole."

Asshole was never a word she would use to describe Wesley. Jerk, or dork, or doofus maybe, but never asshole. That word usually applied to Angel.

"Yeah. Listen. You wouldn't happen to know where that asshole might be, do you?"

* * *

Dawn folded and unfolded her hands, looking around for Connor in the hospital. When she finally found him, he was brooding by a fountain out in front.

"Hey, broody boy. Why'd you run off?"

"Wanted to be alone."

Dawn sat down beside Connor, close enough where they were slightly touching legs. He didn't flinch at the contact, so maybe all was good.

"I understand that need. I lived in a house with about twenty people and one bathroom. I thought I would kill someone practically every morning. Not fun to live with that many girls."

Connor smiled at her, taking her hand in his. She really liked it now that he was trying to be affectionate. But that was all he was doing. Handholding was nice, but the guy really did not know or maybe didn't want to go any further. Their time in the California hell had seemed to be forgotten once they were out of danger. Gone were the hugs and caresses that she had wanted to continue.

"I only had to deal with Fred or Cordelia."

Jealousy roared through Dawn's mind, but she suppressed the need to smack the guy upside the head. She still hadn't asked him about his relationship to Cordelia, although she knew the highlights of their short affair. Did he still have feelings for the older woman?"

"I'm sure that wasn't easy," she told him. "Why did you come with us?"

Connor frowned at her, resting his head on his free hand. When he didn't answer her for a moment, she visualized the worst. She wasn't the reason, was the only thought that gripped her.

"I'm not sure. I just, I felt the need to protect you."

Dawn smiled at that. That was not what she had expected. "Not much going on in Cleveland."

"Well, you do seem to have this ability to get yourself into all sorts of trouble. I just thought I'd tag along. You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all. Thanks."

"For what?" he asked as he moved closer to her.

"Being here," she told him as she squeezed his hand.

His head descended to hers, lips just inches away when a voice called out in the distance. Connor backed away, but still smiled her way.

"Let's go," Wesley called as he walked forward, Faith in his arms.

"She OK?"

"Yup. And that hospital was driving me crazy. Let's move, kid."

Connor got up, pulling Dawn as he did. Their hands were still linked as they walked to the parking lot.

"You know, I can walk," Dawn heard Faith mumble from ahead of them.

"No, you can't," Wesley answered.

"Can too."

"Not."

Dawn rolled her eyes, smiling at the couple ahead of them. If this were happiness, then she'd take it. Because right now, a cute guy who actually liked her was at her side and her friends were safe. What else could go wrong?

 


	5. Possession

Chapter Five – Possession

Willow had managed to avoid Giles's question for the time being. She had mumbled something about missing Kennedy, which made him drop the question, but she knew he'd ask again. It would be hard to hide her moods from him, especially her depression.

Sitting down in the library, Willow gathered all of the information on Wesley and Faith's link, preparing for a meeting of the minds. Since all of the players were in one place, herself, Giles, Wesley, and Faith, maybe they could figure out a way to break the link. It was becoming stronger. There would be a time that if one of them broke a fingernail, the other could be in terrible pain. Or they could just die from it.

As Giles walked into the room, she fidgeted with the books, trying to find a way to rearrange them and not look into his eyes.

"Ah, I see you've brought Heinemann's Encyclopedia of Demon Aliments. That might have something in it." Giles was all business as he sifted through the contents of the table.

"Good thinking on my part," she answered.

"So have Wesley and Faith returned?"

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Wes wanted Faith to eat. I guess she's been eating a lot lately and he was worried or something. So hence the trip to the kitchen."

"I'm glad he is taking care of her."

Willow shook her head in response, settling in a chair and opening another volume of research goodness. When Giles sat down beside her, she kept looking down at the book, but glancing occasionally at him.

"Willow, is there something that you would like to discuss with me?"

He caught her looking. She just was trying to gage his mood, which sometimes was next to impossible. He was very good at covering his emotions, while she sometimes wore hers on her sleeve. Maybe she'd learn how to control the emotions more from him.

"Oh, I was just wondering what you were reading. I'm not finding anything in this one."

Giles sighed, taking his glasses off and cleaning them in a way that looked as if he was angry with her. The wipes were quick and efficient, but almost like he'd break the glass if he pressed just a little harder.

"You're angry," she finally told him.

"No, I am perfectly fine, Willow. It is you that concerns me."

"Hey, I'm fine," her voice squeaked.

"Then look me in the eye and tell me that."

Oh, he could read her so well, not even having to look in her eyes to see the truth. What did she do now? Tell him the whole story, cry on his shoulder and tell him to make it all better? Buffy had tried that a few times, only to be rebuffed by the man that was almost like a father to her. She didn't want him to retreat any time soon back to England.

Willow raised her eyes to look into his. "Look, it's a little rough right now. I'm just worried about things." There, maybe that would solve the twenty questions.

"Things? Being cryptic is not going to help solve the problem." Giles took her hand in his own, squeezing lightly.

Willow's eyes widened in surprise. Giles did touch her occasionally, but only after some large catastrophe that they had survived. She looked down at their joined hands, wanting to pour out her thoughts, but her mouth wouldn't move.

"We, I, we, oh boy."

"Willow, just start from the beginning."

What was the beginning? When everything started going wrong with her magicks? When she tried to kill everyone in sight after Tara died? The challenge of taking the First on had somehow taken too much out of all of them, making her friends spread from one end of the globe to the other. Did she tell Giles that she missed him immensely?

Kennedy had figured out that Willow was not ready to give up her friends for her girlfriend. Willow missed the gang so much that her depression was apparent, even to the point that Willow sometimes didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. But every time one of her friends, whether it was Buffy, or Xander, or Giles was around, she felt herself again. Kennedy didn't understand her moods, her dreams. She just wanted to slay, do her job and that was it. Was there more to life?

"I'm not sure where to start. Things haven't been right since we left Sunnydale."

"I do agree that I have been floundering somewhat also."

"That's what I told Kennedy. She didn't understand my need for . . . ."

"For what?"

Giles turned to face her, taking her other hand in his warm ones. She wanted to cry at the moment he looked into her eyes.

"My friends. The way it once was. I mean, I know it wasn't perfect, and we were always fighting off something, but I miss you guys." I miss you, she wanted to add, but enough of that for later.

"Willow, I miss that also."

"Then why did you leave the first time?"

Giles fidgeted in his seat, not sure how to answer her question. She couldn't believe she blurted it out. That's what she had been thinking at the time.

"Buffy did not need a watcher any more. I thought that I was impeding her progress as a slayer. You all seemed to be managing just fine."

Oh God, she would not cry. But the tears began forming in her eyes, wanting to escape.

"And there's more to this than my bumbling self has realized."

Giles pulled her into an embrace as the first tear rolled down her cheek. When Giles gave hugs, they were bear hugs, not those pats on the back, quick squeeze hugs. And he only reserved them for a few people. She was glad she was one of them. The little circles he was making on her back calmed her emotions somewhat, enough that she pulled back a little to look at him.

His warm, rough hand came up to wipe the stray tear off of her cheek. The look of confusion on his face made her realize that he really didn't know what was up with her. But his comfort and embrace was enough to help her over the first hurdle. She would tell him, in time, when her brain wasn't on overload at being so close to him. The smell of him comforted her, like a blanket on a cold, winter's night.

"Willow, I . . . ."

No talking was what she wanted at the moment. As she placed her finger on his lips to silence him, he stared at her, a bit puzzled. Removing her hand, she closed the distance between the two bodies, to where their heads were almost touching. She closed her eyes, hoping against hope that Giles got the clue. His lips brushed hers just ever so slightly. Both held their breaths as he moved back.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Dawn called from the doorway.

Giles jerked away, making his chair upend, sending him crashing to the ground. Willow attempted to catch the offending chair, but without success.

"Rupert, are you alright?" she asked him.

Sitting stunned for a few moments, he looked up at her and smiled. "Perfectly alright."

* * *

"You told them that we were eating?"

"You were, love."

"Oh, thanks. That's just what we need. Everyone will think that I'm getting fat because I'm eating too much."

Faith lounged in a bathtub full of bubbles, Wes's arms wrapped around her middle. She could feel his steady breathing behind her, comforting her to the point of almost falling asleep. Wanting to get that hospital smell off of her as soon as possible, she had suggested a quick shower and change. Wes had suggested something more relaxing before they had to meet Giles and Willow for research.

Wesley's hand moved to her stomach, lighting rubbing his palm over her. Any time he touched her, she became excited. It wasn't like any other guy she had ever gone out with.

"I can't wait to see you fat."

"Oh, just what you tell a pregnant woman. Jerk."

"The jerk that loves you."

"Damn straight."

"We need to tell them."

"Yes, I guess you're right."

Faith knew that at least Giles and Willow needed to know. And it wouldn't be fair if Dawn and Connor didn't find out too. They had shared the whole experience with them in California.

"When should we tell them?"

Great, he wanted her to make a decision. All she could think about at the moment was how he touched her underneath the warm water of their bath. As his hands moved lower, Faith sighed in contentment.

"And you said I was insatiable?" she told him as he lowered his mouth to her neck.

"I am so sorry for today."

"No guilt, Wes. We should finish our bath. They're waiting."

"Let them wait. I'm not done."

And when they did finish, she was floating on cloud nine. "You really do need to wipe that smirk off of your face," Faith mentioned as she gave him one last kiss.

"I am not smirking. This is my happy face," he commented as he lifted her off of him.

"No, this is your I just got some face." Faith gingerly climbed out of the tub, offering a hand to Wesley.

As he climbed out after her, bubbles still stuck to him everywhere. Faith had to laugh at the sight. Here she was, with a man who she couldn't stand just a few years ago, coming at her with a smile a mile wide.

"Get dressed," he growled as he backed her into the wall.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't, I'll not be responsible for my actions."

"You horny SOB," she told him as she smacked at the bubbles on his backside.

"Ow, that hurt," he teased her as he handed her a towel.

* * *

As Cordelia and Robin came back from coffee, she noticed him looking around, like he was looking for someone in particular. She wondered whom.

"I really appreciate your time, Robin," she told him as he led her up the stairs.

"So you created this link. That explains a lot."

"Yeah, and now I have to make up for it. Wes and Faith don't deserve what I did."

Cordelia followed the man down a corridor, until he stopped at a closed door at the end of a hallway. Robin turned to look at her, like he still wanted to ask another of his millions of questions. Boy, the man wanted to know everything about Wesley and Faith and their relationship. Cordelia had no idea that there even was a relationship until Angel filled her in on his thoughts.

"So, if the link is broken, things should go back to the way they were?"

"Possibly. I don't know."

"I cannot believe Faith did those things you said she did."

"Lived them firsthand."

She wondered where Robin was going with the inquiry. The questions he asked were strange, like he had feelings for Faith. He didn't believe all of the things that Faith had done, but he regaled in the fact that Wes had not been the Boy Scout that everyone thought him to be.

Robin opened the door, which looked as if it was his office. A man in a dark suit stood as they entered. The man looked familiar to Cordelia, though she couldn't remember where she had seen him. Maybe a client from Los Angeles?

"Oh, there you are Wood. The secretary said I could await your return in here."

The man had an English accent not unlike Giles and Wesley. As his blue eyes looked her over, she shook her head in recognition. And didn't like what she saw.

"Oh, my manners," Robin started. "Cordelia, this is Roger . . . ."

"I know who you are." Cordelia drew her fist back and socked the guy so hard his head snapped back.

"Cordelia," Robin yelled at her.

"Get out of here before I do much worse to you, you sleazy son of a bitch."

"You're the seer. I understand what my son would see in you," he told her as he looked down at her cleavage, which enraged her even more.

She was almost ready to throw her body into him, but Robin stopped her progress forward as he grabbed her around the waist.

"You better leave. If he sees you, I won't be responsible for my actions."

"Wait? Cordelia, what is going on?"

Roger nodded his head and started off for the office door. "He wouldn't touch me. I'm his father."

"No, he wouldn't. But I would. Lock anyone under the stairs lately?"

Roger Wyndam-Pryce glared at her, but immediately left without another word.

"I need to see Wes right now."

"I thought you said he didn't want to see you."

"He will now."

 


	6. Feels Like I'm Starting All Over Again

Chapter Six – Feels Like I'm Starting All Over Again

Dawn watched as Giles got up from the floor. That must have hurt, she thought, and then shrugged it off, because Giles seemed to always end up on the floor somehow, whether it was from someone knocking him out or his clumsiness. She always thought it was kind of cute. And from the look on Willow's face, so did she. Willow gave the man a hand up. Very curious indeed, Dawn concluded. She'd have to ask Willow later what they were discussing when she came into the room.

"Have you seen Connor?" Dawn asked the two adults.

"No," they answered in unison, still not looking at her.

Obviously it was something important, because they ignored her, as usual. Leaving the room, she looked around until she heard two people talking in the training room. As she entered, she saw Connor smiling at a girl not too much older than she was. And this girl was stunning. Blonde hair, blue eyes, killer body, probably a slayer, because that was all that lived in the place. He'd be attracted instantly. It's in the blood.

She didn't want to jump to conclusions, so she entered the room cheerfully, trying to catch Connor's attention.

"Hey, Connor," she called out.

He turned to her and smiled. The woman next to him did not. As a matter of fact, she shot daggers her way.

"It's time for the meeting," Dawn said as she looped her arm around his, trying to tell the woman that Connor was taken.

"Dawn, this is Celeste. She's from California also."

"Great, lots to talk about then. Come on, Wes and Faith will be waiting."

"Wait, you know the slayer?" Celeste asked Dawn.

"Yeah. Faith and I go way back. Like the time she tried to kill my sister."

Celeste looked at her strangely, like Dawn had lost all sense. "But she's the slayer."

"Trained slayer. Lots more out there now. Faith was channeling the evil side of the force then."

Connor stared at her puzzled. "What force are you talking about?"

"Star Wars," the girls answered in unison.

"You're deprived, boy," Dawn added, tugging on his arm to follow her.

"Bye, Connor," Celeste waved as they left.

"She's cute," Dawn ground out as they walked to the library.

"She's OK. Said that I might spar with her later. Kind of hard to find partners to do that."

"I'll bet," Dawn sarcastically whipped his way.

"I'll find someone else. No problem."

"Good boy."

* * *

Wesley and Faith arrived as Dawn and Connor were taking their seats.

"Not hungry any more?" Willow asked Faith as she sat down at the table.

"Well, now that you mention it, I could eat again."

Wesley rolled his eyes, pulling her down beside him. "Behave."

"I always do."

"Willow brought some volumes I thought we'd look over. We'll let Dawn and Connor read the ones in English, and the rest of us can study the others."

"I can read some of them," Dawn pouted.

"Hey, put me at the kids' table because I can't understand a word in any of these books," Faith replied as she lifted a dusty volume in her hands.

As Giles started handing each one of the researchers books, Wesley went into research mode, forgetting about Faith to study the text in front of him.

"This looks familiar," Cordelia said from the doorway.

Faith wasn't angry with the woman. A little frustrated that there wasn't an obvious way to break the link, but she just couldn't take it out on Cordy. And the fact that she was one of Wes's best friends in the world too. Although by the look on his face and the anger in his heart, at the moment it wouldn't be wise to mention that little fact.

"What do you want, Cordelia?" he asked.

"A chance to help. And the fact that we have another problem brewing."

"Cordelia, I am glad you are here to help, but we need to get down to researching a cure. Is there something you can contribute?" Giles asked as he rose from his seat.

"I need to talk to Wes, alone."

Faith didn't think that was the greatest idea in the world, but Wes immediately got up from his chair to follow her out the door.

 _No hitting._

 _I remember._

 _Be nice._

Wesley turned to glare at her for interfering. She knew he wouldn't harm Cordelia physically. But he could harm their relationship beyond repair with just the wrong words.

Wesley led Cordelia to a point not too far from the library and leaned up against the wall. He really was not in the mood for one of her tirades. And he really did not want to listen to her apologize again for the trouble that she had caused.

"The other problem, Wes. I was just in Robin Wood's office. You will not believe who was there."

"Nothing would surprise me anymore," he answered.

"Wesley, if I may have a word with you."

Cordelia immediately jumped in front of him, to protect him from the one man he did not need to see right then. His father looked exactly the same as he did the last time they had talked. Same dress, same haircut, same kind of suit, everything in perfect order. When Wesley thought about what he looked like, he knew his father would be disappointed to say the least. He stood there in worn out jeans, faded blue t-shirt, with at least two days' growth of beard. Anyone in their right mind would give Wesley a wide berth. But his father didn't show any kind of emotion on his face.

"I thought my fist told you to scram," Cordelia told his father.

When Cordelia's claws came out, he didn't envy the recipient of the attack. He had managed to stay away from it for the most part, but Angel hadn't. It wasn't a pretty sight when one was beat up not physically, but with her harsh, biting words. Her fists were at the ready though, ready to defend Wesley.

"What do you want?" Wesley asked nonchalantly, arms crossed over his chest.

He didn't want to give his father any kind of information on what was going on. He had to protect Faith. His father needed to know nothing about their relationship. He would damn it, berating Wesley for even thinking of touching his slayer, much less sleeping with her and getting her pregnant.

"Wes, what's going on?" Faith said from the doorway of the library.

Wesley stood up straight from his spot along the wall, moving over to shield Faith from his father. Cordelia moved right along with him, still not moving out from in front of him.

"Wesley, I would like to speak with you alone, if you may."

That calm voice coming from his father wasn't all that uncommon. He even could keep it that calm as he verbally berated his only son for mistakes that he claimed Wesley made. Faith tried to move around Wesley, but he grabbed her arm to stay her.

"Hey, Giles sent me out to get you," Connor said as he came up behind the three.

Even the boy noticed the tension in the hallway, especially how Cordelia held her body ready to do battle.

"I don't think that will be possible," he replied to his father.

Connor moved past Wesley and Faith to stand beside Cordelia. He wanted to fight his own fights, especially the ones with his father. But it would take too much explaining at the moment to call off his guard dogs in the form of Connor and Cordelia.

"Roger, what on earth are you doing here?" Giles asked from the back of the pack.

"Rupert. So nice to see you. I just came to see my son."

Wesley could see Giles's eyes moving over the group. He'd been in enough battles to know that it wasn't a happy reunion between father and son.

"You were supposed to be in England taking care of the Harrison matter. It slip your mind?"

"No, it did not," Roger ground out.

Willow peeked her head out also, seeing everyone gathered.

"We are dealing with an urgent matter, Roger. Time is of the essence," Giles added, obviously trying to calm the situation.

"In Giles speak I think that means get lost, asshole," Cordelia finished as she moved forward.

Wesley grabbed her arm to stop her forward momentum. As he did that, Faith slipped around him quickly to come face-to-face with his father. This could not end well, he concluded.

"I know of so many ways to hurt you," Faith started.

"Faith, no," Wesley implored her to stop.

She didn't move a muscle as she looked up into the familiar eyes of a stranger.

"You come near him again, and you'll see how many," she threatened.

"So this is the dark slayer. Still evil?"

"Roger, you know from my discussions that Faith is redeemed," Giles wanted the older man to know.

"I think you're a fool, Rupert. This girl is nothing but trouble. We should have put her down when we had the chance."

Wesley knew it would be no good if he struck his father. His father could not take away what he had with Faith. He just wished he could throw it in his father's face, just to see his reaction.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you try it now, bastard," Cordelia told him, really wanting to punch his father.

Wesley moved forward to take hold of Faith just in case she decided that it was worth it to smash her fist into that smirking face. But instead, she took his hand and held tight, moving to stand right in front of him. She then brought their joined hands up and lightly kissed then, all the while looking Roger in the face.

"I'm in charge now, Roger. The council voted on it. And you'll do as I say." Giles had moved forward also, temper starting to rise.

"Wesley, what in blazes are you doing with that, that girl. She almost killed you. When the council finds out about this, there will be hell to pay." Roger looked as if he could keel over at any moment when he saw how lovingly Faith treated him.

"Do you really think I give a fuck about what the council thinks about me?" Faith answered. "Anyone comes after me or my loved ones, there _will_ be hell to pay, and lots and lots of pain."

"Wesley, when you've come to your senses, we'll speak. I really do not think that whatever you are doing with that girl is appropriate."

"I think Wes told you to piss off," Cordelia finished his thought. "Great. I've been hanging around you way too much. Now I curse like you," she smiled back at Wesley.

He couldn't help but acknowledge her comment with a quick smile back in response.

"Roger, you will go back to England on the next available flight. If you even try to encourage any problems for Faith with the council, I will personally see to it that you are dismissed. Are we clear?"

Giles was the one that had worked up a full head of steam. Willow came up behind him, taking his hand in hers to calm him.

"Rupert, this is unnatural, as you know. A watcher cannot get that close to his slayer, no matter what the circumstances. Unless you condone the practice."

Giles's fist shot out, slamming into the older man's face, taking him down to the floor with one punch.

"Go, before I lose any more of my patience."

From the looks of it, Giles had lost his patience. Wesley would not like to be on the receiving end if Giles really did lose his patience. From his memory, he remembered that the older watcher really did pack a wallop behind his punches, to borrow a phrase from Faith.

Roger got up from the floor, and quietly walked away from the bunch in the hallway.

"Hey, am I supposed to do all the work in here?" Dawn called as she strode out of the library. "I missed something, didn't I?"

"Bloody hell," Giles cursed as he brought his fist up in pain.

Faith snorted, leaning into Wesley's chest and bringing his other arm around her. She controlled herself, he cheered. He hoped it was for him and not just because of their link.

"It wouldn't look good if I killed him, now would it?" Faith answered out loud.

Willow fussed over Giles, looking over his hand. "Ice. You need ice. Why did you hit him so hard?"

"Because he pissed me off."

The rest of the research team laughed as they returned to the library. Willow scooted off to grab some ice from the kitchen while the rest returned to their books.

"So, I need a book, Giles," Cordelia announced.

"That you do," he responded by handing her one. She sat it down on the table as she looked at the title. "In English. Those other languages just give me the hives."

Before Wesley could take his seat, Cordelia came around and wrapped him in a hug so tight he couldn't breathe. He had missed her hugs so much, not remembering the last time she had given him one.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered in his ear.

"Hey, quit copping a feel," Faith quipped as the two friends clung to each other.

Cordelia finally let him go. "I hope Willow brings enough ice."

"Clocked him too?" Faith asked.

Wesley looked into his best friend's eyes, astonished that she would use her fists to hit someone.

"Felt good at the time. Now it just hurts like a son of a bitch." Cordelia shook her hand lightly as she gritted her teeth at the pain.

Wesley placed a quick kiss on her forehead and handed her a volume to read.

* * *

As Willow looked over a spell book, she kept checking to make sure that Giles's hand wasn't swelling. The punch that he threw would have knocked down even Angel. She never knew that Giles could get that angry. Sure, she'd seen him mad, but the angry times she could count on one hand.

"We haven't talked in a while. You're the head of the council now?" Willow started, wanting Giles to feel comfortable around her again.

He seemed to pull back from her some after what happened between the two of them hours earlier.

"Yes, a couple of months ago as a matter of fact. I'm supposed to take the position as soon as I'm finished here."

"Makes you want to wrap this up, huh?"

"Not especially. After seeing what I'll have to deal with, it's a wonder why on earth I agreed in the first place."

"You'll do a great job," she answered, not adding the part about going back to England, away from her probably. "So what is with Wes's father? Gives me the creeps."

"As he should. He is not a very nice person. And I believe that there are some serious issues between father and son, although there are just rumors," Giles told her as he lowered his voice.

"Let me look at that hand again," Willow inquired as she took the ice off of it.

"You've looked at it every ten minutes. It's fine."

"I like taking care of you, Rupert."

Willow looked at Giles now, wanting him to respond to her usage of his first name. He smiled shyly, pulling his hand back to pick up another book on the stack.

"OK, food now. Or I go psycho," Faith announced to everyone.

"Too late," Wesley added as he got up from his seat, taking her hand in his.

Willow longed for the days when they would research, whether at the library or at the Magic Box. Whenever Tara would take her hand, all the bad things would go away and everything would make sense. Now nothing made sense.

"We do need a short break," Giles agreed with the slayer.

Faith's stomach growled loudly, which made the two teenagers laugh.

Giles hastily got up from his chair, looking like he wanted to not be alone with Willow. Boy had she screwed up big this time. Giles didn't want to continue what they had started, and was embarrassed to tell her so. How could she get his friendship back without him talking to her? She'd have to corner him at some point. The one thing going for her at the moment was his presence.

* * *

After dinner, the group sat back down again, minus Faith, who just wanted to lie down and rest. Wesley understood that since she had a horrendous day. He was surprised that he didn't fall over asleep too. Neither one had gotten enough rest in the past week. Every time he went to sleep, he worried about what had happened when he tried to strangle her.

"Faith sleeping?" Cordelia inquired as she sat down beside him, book in hand.

"Yes. She's had a terrible day."

He wanted to tell Cordelia the good news, but just didn't see at the moment how he could. Indirectly, she was responsible for the whole situation they were in, babies and all. Should he thank her or yell at her?

"Explain something to me. You two are having a relationship? I'm just not getting it. Is it the link? Did I cause this?"

"Yes, I'm sorry you're not getting it, no, and sort of."

Cordelia looked at him like he'd grown two heads, like only she could. "Wes, she hurt you. She hurt me. She tried to kill Angel."

"You weren't around when I had to break her out of prison. The real you, I mean. She's changed. I just never realized how much I cared for her until I had to spend every waking moment with her."

"Oh, so you had the hots for her when you were in Sunnydale?"

Did he have the hots for his slayer in Sunnydale? Good question, and one he could not answer. Sure, she was beautiful, but deadly. She was his charge, a sacred duty that he wanted to help her fulfill.

"Not exactly. I'm not sure what she was to me. I think I kept her at a distance because of what she could have been. I hated her there for a while."

"Really, no," Cordelia exclaimed sarcastically.

"No, not after that. Right after the council dismissed me. I blamed her. It was more my fault than hers. Time does heal all wounds."

"Not when they deal with that thing you call a father, they don't."

He couldn't believe her defense of him. She had stood in front of him, ready to take on his father while he sat and watched. But that was Cordelia. When she felt that her family was threatened, she took action. At least the old Cordelia did. The one that he worked with right after he came to Los Angeles. After Connor arrived, he didn't know what to think of her anymore.

"Next time, I will deal with him."

"Not without me standing right next to you. We're family, remember?"

Wesley turned away so she couldn't see his pained expression at her proclamation. He longed for her to say that so many times after he took Connor. She never even acknowledged him after the incident. He could have taken her fists or her biting words. What he couldn't take at the time was her silence. He had lost her because of that one act. Could he gain her trust again?

"I know. It's been a long time since anyone has said that. I miss it. I missed you. Look at those two over there," Cordelia pointed out as he looked towards Dawn and Connor, heads together in discussion.

"If things hadn't gone they way they did, they would have never found each other. Sometimes things do work out in the end, huh, Wes."

"Yes, they do."

Cordelia laid her head on his shoulder, sniffling her tears away. Things were different, but now he could talk to Cordelia, not feeling guilty for what he did. They both had tried to fix a problem, only to end up on the wrong side of right. Now they both could make it up to each other by solving this mystery before anyone else was hurt.

* * *

Faith lay in bed, tossing and turning. The dream she started having was disturbing to say the least. She was trapped. She couldn't escape. Wesley was yelling for her, not finding her. Everywhere she turned, someone bad popped up, turning her away from his voice. Until she saw at the end of a hallway a light. She ran as fast as she could, throwing the door open. She couldn't scream the sight was so horrible. The blood spread across the floor, reaching her feet as her hands were covered in it. Sitting in a chair in the middle of the barren room was Wesley, neck wound gaping, blank eyes staring at her.

She struggled to wake up out of the horrible dream, only to be held down in the bed by strong hands. Now fully awake, she realized that she wasn't alone. There were several figures in the room with her. She didn't see the syringe plunge into her arm, only felt the stinging as it entered her body uninvited. It took only moments for the drug to take effect, bringing darkness in its wake.

* * *

Cordelia dried her eyes on a napkin as Wesley picked up another book. As he reached over to grab another dusty volume, the dream hit him full force, throwing him back against the wall. He had never had one of these dreams awake. Faith's dreams only were shared if they were both sleeping. But this one was so strong, it managed to crack his skull against the wall behind him.

Everyone gasped and screamed as he slid to the ground, still caught up in what she saw. He couldn't see what anyone else was doing in the room.

"Giles, what's wrong with him?" Cordelia screamed.

He scrambled up from the ground, pushing everyone who had gathered around him out of the way. As he ran down the corridor with Connor close on his heels and the others not far behind, he felt the needle go into her arm. And he knew that he'd be too late this time.

"Connor, find her," he yelled as he staggered against a wall.

Whatever they had injected in her was taking effect, taking him under with it. He didn't even feel it when the ground hit him full force.

* * *

Robin had sulked around, trying to avoid the gang in the library. The confrontation between the woman Cordelia and Wesley's father had confused him beyond belief. He didn't understand why she would hit him like she did. Obviously she knew much more about the relationship between father and son than he wanted to know.

His mother's watcher had told him to stay clear of the man many years ago, and he had complied. He just didn't see why though. The older man looked harmless.

Going to the kitchen after hours, he heard a noise in the next corridor, so he decided he better check it out. A couple of the girls had decided one night to sneak out and go dancing. He had read them the riot act, but knew that teenagers will be teenagers, and that they probably would try it again sometime.

As he rounded the corner, he noticed the far door closing. That door led to the outside. So as he trotted to catch up with one of the errant slayers, he noticed that something wasn't quite right. It was too quiet. Sure, some of the girls weren't back from California, having been hurt in the battle to take back Los Angeles. Some had even died. He held himself responsible for their training. Methods would have to be changed, even before Giles had told him that they would.

Opening the door, he concluded that whoever was in the hallway had gotten away. As he turned to unlock the door to get back in, a knife came slashing down on him, catching him in the stomach. He rolled down a flight of stairs before coming to rest against a wall. In pain, he looked at his surroundings in a daze, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. He knew he needed to move, but the blood seeping out of his wound wouldn't let him. He'd be dead quickly if someone didn't find him.

 


	7. Damsel in Distress Again?

Chapter Seven – Damsel in Distress Again?

Dammit, I am not the damsel in distress again, Faith thought as she awoke in a small room devoid of furniture. The one overhead bulb shone dimly down to reveal a dank room.

Faith sat up gingerly, placing her hand over her stomach. Nothing felt off. She just hoped that whatever they injected her with wouldn't cause any problems. Luckily she had eaten before she went to rest, because she was getting hungry again and it might be a while before anyone decided to feed her, if at all.

Getting up off the floor, she checked the walls, trying to find out if a window had been boarded up, or if she could escape some other way. The only door in the place was steel-plated. Probably would be difficult, if not impossible to break down.

Faith was really getting sick and tired of being kidnapped by stupid fucks. Twice in a short amount of time must be a record, even for Dawn. She just hoped Dawn didn't let tease her about it once she got out of there.

She'd wait until one of them made a mistake, because they always seemed to, and she would crack a couple of skulls and escape. Easy plan. One she hoped to implement as soon as someone actually came into the room. Her fingers itched to take whoever was responsible apart.

Wes must be out of his mind, she thought. She was sure he felt the dream and that needle sliding in. She also hoped that someone was there to catch him once the drug took affect. Blocking him at the moment, she wondered if he was really OK.

Just as she started to open their link more, the door pushed open. The three Council buffoons who had tried to take her down in Sunnydale, then LA walked in the door. Collins, Weatherby, and Smith all crowded in the door to confront the once rogue slayer they had failed to apprehend.

"Oh, it's the three stooges. Dickhead, Fuckhead, and Butthead."

"Hello, Faith. So easy to trap you this time. Especially with that prick of a watcher around too."

"You hurt him, I'll kill you."

"Ah, Faith. Change of tune for you. I wouldn't be threatening anyone at this time."

"Not a threat," she said with all seriousness. "So is this a revenge thing, cause if the Council finds out about your little adventure, you may find yourselves at the pointy end of a sharp sword."

"We don't work for the Council anymore."

"Fucked up too many times, boys? You just don't know how to shoot straight. Must be a riot whenever you try to get laid, if you ever do."

Weatherby drew a gun and pointed it directly at Faith's head. "Just give me an excuse, you bitch."

Faith shivered on the inside, but didn't want them to know that she was scared to death. So she stood stock still until the urge to blow her brains out passed for the guy.

"That's not why we're here. At least yet," Collins added, as he pushed the gun down from Faith's head.

"Boys, boys. How many times have I told you not to play with the prisoner," a voice chided as he came into the room.

Faith didn't know this guy. She remembered the three fucks in front of her vividly. The guy behind them was unfamiliar. He was short, but carried an air of power. The three in front of her looked to be a little frightened of him. Something about him made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The look in his eyes was pure evil.

"Mr. Rayne, she was . . . ."

"I don't care what she was doing, Weatherby. Control that temper of yours or I'll snap your scrawny neck. Understand?"

Evil, indeed. If he could do that, then he must be strong, or the biggest liar in the world.

"Yeah," the man answered shortly, not wanting to get on the bad side of Rayne.

"Hello, Faith. My, my. They didn't tell me how beautiful you really are."

Faith crossed her arms over her chest, daring the guy to do something where she'd have to smack him down. "Let's cut the crap. What do you want?"

"Want? What makes you think I want anything from you?"

"Kidnapping me in the middle of the night from a dorm full of slayers might have given me a clue."

"Smart woman. You just sit tight," he answered, ushering the three out the door.

"Wait. What's going on?" she wanted to know.

"In due time, love. Relax. I will return shortly."

Rayne bowed to her as he slammed the door home, locking it on the outside.

* * *

Wesley swung out at the first person that he saw as he woke up from his little unintended rest. Luckily it was Connor, who dodged the blow successfully.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing that thing," Connor chided him as he caught Wes's hand in midair.

"Connor?" Wes said slowly.

His head hadn't quite cleared out yet. He was lying on a bed of some sort. Connor was in the room. And his head hurt like hell, again. He wouldn't be surprised if this time some of his brain cells didn't recover.

"Faith?" he asked the boy, knowing what the answer already was.

"We're searching. Willow's doing a locator spell, the girls are out looking. It's covered."

"But no one has found her yet," he concluded or Connor wouldn't have a grim look on his face.

"No. But we will."

Wesley didn't have much confidence in the statement. Whoever had taken her had slipped in unnoticed in a place where some of the most powerful beings on the planet resided. They obviously knew what they were doing.

Wesley gingerly sat up in the bed, rubbing a sore spot on his head.

"You hit your head. It hurt?" Connor asked as he handed Wesley some ice in a bag.

"Dreadfully. It's scrambling my brain. Where's Willow? I want to speak with her."

"She's in a conference room not too far from here. You sure you're up to this?"

"Yes. Now lead the way," Wesley told him as he got up from the bed.

"The one thing we do know about these guys, they're deadly," Connor said to him as they walked along a corridor.

"How so?" Could the situation get any worse for them?

"Someone stabbed Robin Wood and left him for dead. One of the slayers found him. He's in surgery right now. They don't know if he'll live."

Wesley thought that the guy was an ass, but he didn't deserve to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Nope. I think that's enough bad things for the moment."

When they arrived at the conference room, Willow growled in frustration as she sat down at the table. "Someone is blocking me. I will get through. It'll just take time," she mumbled to herself. "You OK?" she asked as she saw Wesley.

"I'll survive. If I contact Faith, could that help you in any way?"

"Might. We could try."

Wesley sat down at the table as Willow hovered above him. He settled down to open the link up to Faith more. He was so afraid of what he might find when he did. As he felt himself relax, Willow touched his arm lightly, wanting to connect to him as he used the link to contact Faith.

 _Faith?_

 _Don't, stop._

Willow was thrown across the room, slamming into the wall sharply. Connor yelling in the background was closed out as Wesley looked down at his hands. They were bleeding. His whole body was bleeding. He tried to break the link, but it wouldn't work. Faith wasn't injured though. That much he knew. This was for him alone. Someone was messing with their link.

"Now that was unexpected," he heard a voice inside of his head before he finally was able to pull back from Faith. Or maybe she broke it from her side. All of the blood disappeared as soon as it happened.

"Willow," Connor called as he ran for the wicca.

Wesley shook from head to toe. Powerful magicks had rolled through his body again. Only he wasn't the cause of it and neither was Willow. The urge to throw up almost overwhelmed him until he saw Connor kneeling over Willow's unconscious form.

"Oh God," he said as he made his way over to her. "Get Giles, now," he told Connor as he tried to make her more comfortable.

"OK, that officially hurt," Willow mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes.

Wesley breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't been seriously hurt. "What happened?"

"Not sure. Headache beyond belief," Willow rambled as she tried to sit up.

Giles came running into the room, followed by Dawn and Connor. "Willow?" he started as he knelt down to her.

"WWF smackdown at its finest. All happening in my head, mind you."

Wesley felt guilty that he had ever let Willow in to the link. Could that have caused the damage, getting her thrown across the room like a rag doll? The voice that sounded in his head right before the link was broken told him not. She was just there for the ride.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, Willow. Someone else hijacked the link."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Hence the smackdown."

"You tried to link with Faith?" Giles asked Wesley, concern on his face.

"Yes. And I didn't find just Faith connected to it."

Wesley and Giles helped Willow to stand. Giles held onto her waist to steady her. Wesley wanted to help her more, but Giles literally slapped his hands away at the gesture.

"Who? Who would have that kind of power that's not standing in this room?" Willow wanted to know.

"Do you have any ideas, Willow?" Giles asked her as he leaned her body into his more.

"No, other than whoever it is, pure evil. And we surprised him, which means the secret is out. No way the guy knew about the link."

"He does now," Wesley sighed. "How do you know he's a he?"

"Oh, the smell. It was musky and old, dark. Has to be a guy, besides the voice in my head that told me the words 'fuck off' before he flung me across the room."

Giles looked at the wicca with a curious stare. "Did you see anything?"

"No. Nothing. Oh, and one more thing? The guy has a British accent."

Wesley and Giles looked at each other for a moment, contemplating what that might mean.

"Your father doesn't have that kind of power, does he?" Giles carefully asked him.

"No. My mother's side of the family was the one with magical powers. He never was able to perform any kind of magicks."

"That eliminates him from throwing Willow across the room. But why did he show up here? Doesn't seem like a coincidence, now does it?"

Could Giles be on to something, Wesley thought? His father's appearance had put Wesley on edge. Did he take Faith, or planned for someone to take Faith?

"Coincidence?" Dawn started. "No way," she ended sarcastically.

"She's right, Willow I mean. He did have an accent. I heard him also. He said that the link was unexpected."

Cordelia rushed into the room. "Anything?" she asked everyone in the room.

"No. Just a blinding headache. Which you would totally know about," Willow directed her way.

"Yeah, only now I'm just a girl. Not vision girl anymore. What can I do to help?"

"We need to find out where my father is staying," Wesley instructed her.

"Computer? I may not be as good at hacking as Fred, but I can hold my own. Willow? You up to it?"

"Yeah. Just point me to the aspirin and I'll be good." She staggered as she started to walk towards Cordelia.

"No, you will not," Giles explained as he led her out of the room.

Dawn and Connor followed the two out of the room, trying to be of help.

"Something happened?" Cordelia asked Wesley.

"Someone else was able to tap into the link. Threw Willow across the room."

"That's not good."

* * *

Faith huddled in a corner, trying to keep warm. Her warning to Wesley was hours old. She just hoped that he didn't get hurt. Closing the link abruptly had left her shaking. Someone else knew about their special connection. They'd not be able to communicate now, unless something drastic happened. Her guess was that Rayne guy. If she could just get the name to Wesley, he'd be able to figure out whom the guy was. She just hoped Rayne would come back so she could smash her fist into his face. Through the link, she figured that it must be him that interfered.

The door opened slowly, probably because they thought she'd clock them the first chance she got. She would have been ready too, if her body hadn't been so cold. That Rayne guy poked his head around the door, then shut it behind him, looking at her. Like he was trying to assess her, look into her mind.

"What do you want?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

"What are you? That's what I'm wondering."

"You are such a stupid fuck, ya know that?"

"No, no, Faith. It's not good to piss off the jailer."

As she stood up against the wall, Rayne walked closer to her, smirk evident on his face. He placed one hand on each side of her face and leaned in to her. Her stomach churned, not knowing if she should take her best shot, or wait and see what he planned. Either way, he would eventually go down.

She looked directly in his eyes, challenging him to make her mad. "It's not good to piss off a slayer."

"Duly noted," he told her as he started to bury his head in her hair.

"You don't get off of me right now, you'll see just how pissed off I can get."

Rayne smiled as he slowly moved away from her body. She wondered if he would kill her if she puked on his front right then. Her stomach could do it if she wanted it to. That's how much revulsion she felt at the moment.

"From the rumors that I've heard, you'll do just about anything. What'll you say?"

Faith punched him in the gut, staggering him into the wall beside her. Running for the door, she reached it and pulled it open sharply. It slammed shut by itself. She tried again, only to be burned by the door handle.

"What makes you think I said you could leave?" Rayne asked from right behind Faith.

Faith turned to see that the man had recovered from her punch. Throwing her fist out again, it connected with a solid whack, making the guy's head snap back. Instead of going down, he just looked her and laughed. A couple more punches later, the guy was still on his feet, still grinning at her.

"Go down you motherfucker," Faith said as she kicked out.

"You've been a naughty girl, Faith," Rayne told her as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

Looking into his eyes, now she saw why he wouldn't go down. His eyes were pure black, much like Wes's were when he had used those dark magicks to help her. His hand moved up to her neck, sliding along her jugular. Forcing her head back, he brought his head down to her neck.

* * *

Wesley banged on the hotel door loudly, making sure that his father would have no excuse for not coming to the door. Behind him stood everyone that cared about Faith. Connor looked like he would rip someone's head off, Cordelia looked as pissed as he'd ever seen her, Willow seemed a little annoyed, but hopeful, and Giles stood impassively, but Wesley knew better than to misjudge any of these people. Dawn leaned up against the opposite wall, arms crossed over her front. Not many people would think that the little army assembled in the hallway could be deadly. He knew just how much, right down to the youngest member.

His father opened the door and glared at Wesley. "I had hoped that we would get a chance to talk privately, Wesley."

"There's not time. Faith's been kidnapped. Tell me what you know." Sharp, efficient, Wesley knew he had gotten to the point quickly. Unfortunately by look on his father's face, he could read nothing at all.

"I'm sorry. I know nothing. Now if you'll excuse me," Roger said as he started to close the door in Wesley's face.

Wesley caught the door with his foot, pushing it back open with force.

"What do you think you're doing?" Roger said as the team walked into his room, Dawn slamming the door after her.

Wesley had grown taller than his father the summer of his fifteenth birthday. Although he was scrawny, he had the height on him finally. He even felt proud that he'd finally grown since he was always the smallest child in his classes. But all his father had done was berate him for being clumsy, instead of telling him how big he was getting. That's what all of his friends, what few friends he had, parents had said to them. Now he used his size, including his height to his advantage.

Stalking over to stand in front of his father, he looked down at the man that had made his life a living hell for so long. Breaking away from his father had been the best thing he had ever done. Because if he hadn't, he wouldn't be standing there with loyal friends ready to back him up on anything that he did.

"Intimidating you to tell me where she is," he told his father in all seriousness.

"You? Intimidating? Wesley, why on earth would you think such a thing? Look at you. You look frightful. Get a grip on yourself and go get yourself cleaned up and presentable."

The rest hadn't said a word because he had told them not to. This was his job to handle. They were just there to back him up if there was any trouble. Now he wished they weren't there to hear the humiliating words coming from his father's mouth.

"You are such a waste, Wesley. I don't know why I put up with such a sniveling child like you. You obviously did not learn your lesson."

Wesley tried not to shrink back, tried to stand up to him, but the words would just not come out. The thought that Faith was out there somewhere, possibly hurt, made him suck it up, as she would say.

"What? What lesson would that be Father? To not speak, to not make mistakes. You don't seem to understand that I don't give a fuck about your opinion any more. The only opinions that matter are from the people that are behind me. They are my family." Wesley turned to the people behind him. "Search the room. There must be some clue . . . ."

It happened so fast, Wesley never had time to react. But Connor did, stopping the fist from smashing into his face. Connor held the older man's hand in his, pushing it back with not too much effort.

"I suggest you sit down and start talking. Otherwise this young man will show you why he's called the Destroyer."

The angry look on his father's face said it all. He wasn't going to give up being the prick he was, but he knew he was outnumbered for the moment.

"Roger, you will tell us what you know," Giles repeated the phrase for him, standing shoulder to shoulder with the younger ex-watcher.

 


	8. Keeps Me Wanting

Chapter Eight – Keeps Me Wanting

"I do not know . . . ," Roger started but did not get to finish.

Wesley turned away from his father, heart racing at what Faith was feeling at the moment. She had inadvertently opened their link wide, so he saw exactly what was happening. Faith was shaking, trying to hold herself together. A man was holding her close, too close for her comfort. Then Wesley saw what he was about to do.

"Bastard," he mumbled to himself, shutting out the conversations going on around him.

"Why don't we have a little fun until the package is delivered, shall we?" the man told Faith.

Faith struggled in his mind, but couldn't break free of his hold. This vision was real, and was happening as they stood in the hotel room, looking for clues.

"Wesley?" Willow quietly shook him.

She was worried about how he had been acting since the time they walked into his father's hotel room. As she watched the others turn things upside down, she noticed that he had moved away from his father as Giles interrogated him. The cruel things that his father had said to him must have hurt. Although her parents had been indifferent, but not ever saying one negative thing about her, she still didn't understand why a parent could be this way. Wesley was extra smart, actually nice when he wasn't sneering at someone, and could be quite sweet, at least to Faith.

She walked up to him to make sure he was alright. As he turned his head slightly to look at her, she noticed something odd about him. Before she could comment on the look, a wave of dark magick swirled around her. His eyes now bored into hers, drawing power from her, even though they were not touching.

"Wesley?" she yelled to get his attention, hoping to break his hold and to warn the others that something was very wrong.

Before anyone could move or ask what was wrong, the room literally shook from the walls to the floors to the ceiling. Willow concentrated to break his hold, knowing that in the end she was the stronger of the two. But his natural affinity to use the magicks made it harder than she thought. Finally she put up her hand to shield herself, trying to create a feedback loop, and stopping him in his tracks.

Her effort though had some side effects. Everyone in the room was flung to the floor, unable to move, including herself. But it broke the hold.

* * *

Faith couldn't believe the prick actually thought he'd get some from her, and then wait until he got a delivery. The man must have a Napoleon complex a mile long since he was short and old and just downright skanky.

Faith angled her elbow to take his face off of her neck. Before she was able to perform the maneuver, her mind flashed a brilliant light, blinding her momentarily. Rayne was flung across the room somehow by something coming from her body. It didn't hurt her, it just felt really weird. Then she noticed that she had opened the link all the way, allowing Wes to see everything that just happened. He was the cause of the damage. He had used her, controlled her to slam Rayne against the wall.

Quickly, she came to her senses, and ran for the door, wrenching it open. Rayne didn't stop her this time. Sprinting down a hallway, she opened another door into a large room, much like a gym that had been abandoned. Running at top speed, she ran to the opposite wall to another door. She wasn't fast enough, because coming through the other door were the Three Stooges. As soon as they saw her, they all drew their weapons.

All three fired them at the same time. She watched the bullets head towards her as if in slow motion. As she held her hands up, she waved away the bullets, which made them slam into the wall behind her. Walking forward, she deflected more bullets, until each had emptied the chambers on their guns.

* * *

Wesley grabbed Willow's hand and took off out the door as fast as he could. He now knew where Faith was from the link. Now that he discovered that Willow could enhance the link and his magical abilities, he could save Faith from the people who had kidnapped her. But Willow wasn't coming willingly. As a matter of fact, she was trying to break away from him as they raced down the stairs.

"Stop, Wesley, stop," she cried as they reached the bottom stairs.

"No," he growled deep in his throat

The others were following them, but he had been faster down the stairs. Pulling Willow out of the hotel with him, he ran across the street. He could feel the bullets fly all around Faith. She deflected them using the power that they shared, but it might not last as long as she needed. Finally the three in front of her stopped firing, since they were out of bullets.

Willow pulled against him as he kept up the brutal pace. He still needed her power to keep Faith safe, so he couldn't just let her go. She finally managed to stop him by falling to the ground. Not having the time to wait, he started to pick her up. Just as he bent to the ground, Willow flung him through the air.

"She's going to die, Willow," Wesley yelled at her as he scrambled up off the hard pavement.

"You both will if you don't calm down," Willow answered, eyes coal black.

Wesley saw the others had almost caught up with him. He couldn't let them stop him from his mission of finding Faith. So he left Willow sprawled on the sidewalk for the others to take care of.

* * *

As Faith reached the three bozos, they each stood in a fighting stance. She had so wanted to take each of them out the last time they tried to harm her in Los Angeles. But she hadn't been able to since Angel had taken out the one in the helicopter, and Buffy had taken one out on the roof. She found out later that Wes had taken out the first one with a syringe throw to the neck. Impressed her when Angel had told her. But now they were all hers.

She took out Weatherby with a roundhouse kick to the face. He fell flat and didn't get up. The other two proved to be harder than she had anticipated. Both decided that they could take her on at the same time, instead of waiting for one or the other to take the first shot. As they both charged her, one of her fists went flying while her elbow connected with the other's chin. She heard grunts of pain from both the guys.

It still didn't deter them from coming back for more. Ducking to avoid a punch from Collins, she was able to block a body shot from Smith very easily. Spinning, she efficiently took down Collins as he tried to strategize his next move against her. He landed hard on his backside. Then she slugged Smith in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground on top of Collins. The two tangled on the floor in a mass of limbs.

"Jackasses," Faith told them as she backed away just to make sure one of them didn't take her down with them.

"Ah, Faith. There you are," Ethan Rayne said from behind her.

Dammit, she hadn't taken the guys down fast enough to escape. Turning, she decided that she might as well confront the guy right then.

"If it's all the same to you, I'm leavin'. I've had about enough of your hospitality as I can take."

Faith started to back away from Ethan, thinking that she didn't want to turn her back on the man since he was very dangerous. As she backed away, she collided with something solid. But she didn't have to turn around to know exactly with whom she had run up against. She had felt him running for her for the last few minutes. She had just hoped that he would make it in time to lend her a hand.

Ethan's eyes widened when he saw who was behind her.

"Ethan Rayne," Wesley ground out, taking Faith's hand in his.

"Oh, lookie here. Pryce junior has arrived. Daddy not around to protect you, eh?"

Faith felt Wesley stiffen behind her. Any mention of his father made him shut down, so that she couldn't talk or reason with him. This was no exception. Wesley moved out from behind her, putting her out of harm's way. Not exactly where she wanted to be at the moment, since she was the one that had been kidnapped. She had wanted to take the guy on, but by the look in his eyes, Wesley was probably the better opponent.

Slowly, Wesley made his way closer to Ethan, making sure he kept Faith protected from Rayne's magicks. When he got far enough away from Faith, he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest, willing the other man to come closer to him.

"You always were a chicken, Wesley. Let's see what you're really made of," Ethan taunted as he threw a fireball directly at Wesley's chest.

Wesley threw his hand up, stopping the thing just inches from contact. He smiled at the older man, and then took the fireball in his own hands.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with fire," he said as he launched the thing right back at Ethan.

Rayne ducked just in time before it connected. "I see the boy has learned a few tricks along the way."

Ethan tried to slam Wesley to the ground with his mind, but Wesley managed to dodge the words by rolling quickly off to the side before Rayne was able to perform the feat. But before he was able to get off another trick of his own, the magicks that he was feeling running through his veins disappeared. Ethan also dropped to the floor, rendered powerless by some unknown force.

"Boys will be boys," Willow called from the doorway.

Wesley took that opportunity to tackle Rayne to the ground, bringing his fist back to connect with the man's jaw. Then he took a hold of the guy's head and slammed it down several times before Faith finally stopped him.

"Down boy," she told him as she pulled him off of Rayne.

Giles and Willow walked over to the scene.

"Ethan. I should have known you were behind all of this," Giles sneered at his contemporary lying on the floor.

"Just trying to collect on a promise, old boy," he answered back, holding his nose that was bleeding.

Wesley turned to see his father between Connor and Cordelia. "What were you trying to collect, Rayne?" he asked as he looked directly at his father.

"A book. It's as simple as that. But Pryce Senior broke his promise. So I held his slayer until he complied."

"His slayer?" Wesley hissed, questioning Rayne's statement.

"Told me that Faith was going to get assigned to him. Never should have taken his word on it."

As Ethan tried to get up, Giles put him back down with one punch to the face.

"Ow, Rupert. That hurt."

"Stay down," Giles told him as he stood over him.

"What makes you think the Council would ever assign Faith to you, much less any slayer?" Wesley shouted to his father.

"She was supposed to be mine in the first place. If she had been assigned to me, she would have never gone rogue. This is all your fault, boy. All of it."

Wesley stalked over to his father quickly. Connor stood at the ready to do whatever the ex-watcher wanted him to do. Which made Wesley pull back slightly. He had responsibilities that he couldn't shirk. And one of them was to not kill his father in front of his friends.

"You come near Faith or any other member of my family ever again, I will deal with you. Do you understand?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'm your father."

"Not anymore."

Even that statement made Cordelia gasp. For him to totally cut ties with his father was hard. But it had to be done to protect his newly formed family. The man had brought it on himself from years of abuse and neglect of his only son. He'd never get to see his grandchildren.

"Ethan," Giles yelled as he and Willow fell into a heap on the floor.

Rayne took off from where he had come. Wesley was just too tired to stop the older man.

"Now help us break the link, asshole. I don't have any problem breaking your nose if you don't," Cordelia said to his father.

"He knows?" Wesley questioned her.

"He knows. And will fix it, right?"

No one messed with Cordelia. Wesley smiled at her in return for her help and support.

"Giles, you need to pick better friends," Faith said as she helped Giles and Willow up off the floor.

"Ethan Rayne is not a friend, Faith," Giles told the slayer.

"Oh good. So the next time I see him, I can kill him."

"Faith," Wesley, Giles and Willow managed to say at the same time.

"He was just eww." The rest of the team laughed at her assessment of the man. "And he didn't feed me, the jerk. I'm hungry."

Wesley hugged her tightly to him, happy that she hadn't been injured in the fight. But he had made a serious error in judgment using Willow to help him. He had drawn on her power without her permission. But as he looked over at her, she wasn't paying the least bit of attention to him. All of her attention was focused on Giles.

As he bent down to take Faith's lips with his, he could hear an audible gasp from his father. It was better that the man knew now that his love for Faith was real and that he could never deter his son from breaking from her.

"Get a room," he heard Cordelia say as they led Roger away.

"Don't say a word," Connor told the man as he pulled him out of the building.

"You know that cinnamon smell kinda makes you smell like an apple pie," Faith whispered to him in his ear.

The rest of the team slowly made their way out of the room. Wesley noticed that the Council henchmen had also slithered away unnoticed. Undoubtedly Giles would send out someone to find the three and stop them for good. They were now rogue. Contracting out with a dark wizard wasn't the smartest of ideas on their part.

Faith's hands traveled down his back, caressing him the whole way. She smiled into his neck, knowing exactly what she was doing to him.

"Faith, this is not the time," Wesley lovingly told her as his hands made it to her head, pulling it back so he could draw his mouth over her neck.

"I'm hungry and I'm horny."

"Let's take care of the first one. Then . . . ."

"Better hurry. We might shock that asshole of a father of yours."

Wesley held Faith even tighter. "I'm not letting you out of my sight for the next seven or eight months."

"Hey, I was thinkin' much longer," she told him, as she looked into his eyes, entirely serious.

"Forever, then?"

"I'm thinkin' longer. Much, much longer."

"Will you two get your asses in gear?" Dawn shouted from the door.

"Your fault," Wesley pointed out as they walked towards the outer door.

"Nu uh. Not my word."

"Blame Cordelia," they both said in unison.

* * *

"I am so glad this is almost over with," Willow told Giles as they sat in the library together.

The rest of the team had made it to their beds after Giles and Willow had gathered the information they needed from Wesley's father. Now they had the correct spell to perform on Wesley and Faith, binding them the way they should have been back in Sunnydale.

"Thank goodness Robin is going to be alright. But on another issue, Wesley used you, your power. Have you talked to him yet?"

"Nope. And I'm not gonna any time soon. I would have done the same if it would have been you, or, or, Buffy, Xander, you know," Willow stuttered to a halt.

"But the magicks involved, that he borrowed?"

"Weren't dark. I was able to let him borrow only enough good energy to protect Faith."

"Then why did you try to stop him?" Giles wanted to know.

"Because I didn't want him to get hurt. The man really throws caution to the wind," Willow answered, glad that Giles had changed the subject quickly away from her statement.

"That doesn't mean that he's not going to have to learn how to manage what power he has inside of him."

"He will. I did with your help, remember?" Willow vividly remembered how Giles had taken care of her.

"Let me look at your knee now," Giles asked her as he moved to her chair.

"What? I'm fine."

"You limped quite a bit getting back here."

Willow raised her skirt so that Giles could look at the scrape on her knee that she had gotten when she fell on the sidewalk.

"See. Just a scrape." Giles gently kissed the injury, looking up at Willow after he performed the ministration. "Oh, that um, feels better?"

She really didn't know what to say to the man. His green eyes sparkled in the dim light from the desk lamp. Her eyes got wider as he slowly made his way on his knees in between her now spread legs.

"Willow?" he whispered as he was just inches from her face.

"Yeah?" she gulped, not knowing if she should respond.

He took his glasses off, laying them on the table beside them. Gently he brought his lips to hers, moving expertly as she closed her eyes to the sensation of him finally kissing her like she wanted to be kissed.

She couldn't stop the tears from coming. She had been through so much in the last couple of years, and having one of her best friends in the world there with her, actually comforting her, making her feel wanted and alive again made her cry all the more.

"Willow?" he asked as he pulled back from her slightly.

"I'm OK. Now, I'm OK," she told him as she pulled him back to her mouth and kissed him with abandon.

He tightly embraced her as their kisses became hotter and more intense. As he made his way to her earlobe, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the door was still open. She gently closed it with her magick, and then turned her mind and body back to Giles. As his hands made their way up her shirt and her back, she groaned in pleasure.

He slowly picked her up off of the chair, swept whatever books were on the table away, and laid her down to come in between her legs.

"The books?" Willow questioned.

"They will live. I will not if I cannot be with you this instant."

Being in a library would never be the same for her again.

* * *

"You know, adults amaze me," Dawn started.

"Why is that? We're adults now," Connor pointed out.

The two sat in the dark training room against a wall.

"Ha. You're what one year old, and I'm three, technically I mean."

"Not really Dawn."

"I know, I know. Sometimes I think that's how old I am by the way they treat us."

Connor took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her palm. Dawn shivered at his finger's movement.

"Connor? Do you like me?"

"Of course I like you. What makes you think that I don't?"

"No, not like like but really like."

She turned so that she faced him. He grinned at her statement. "How about really like, Dawn?"

Dawn smiled as his head descended to hers. He lightly placed a kiss on her lips, and then pulled her into an embrace.

* * *

"Nice little trick you pulled there," Faith told Wesley as she wrestled him for position.

"Which trick, the one with the bullets or the fireball?" he told her as he flipped her over onto the bed, giggling as she poked him in the ribs.

"Both. Damn that was slick."

"You talk too much."

Faith then giggled. She talked too much? This coming from the man who couldn't shut up most of his life?

"Then shut me up."

Wesley opened her mouth up to his and thrust his tongue inside to duel with hers. Faith groaned in pleasure as his hands found each part of her.

"OK, since I had to wait this long . . . ," she started.

"Now?"

"Indeed," she whispered to him as he took her into his arms.

 


	9. Aunts and Uncles

Chapter Nine – Aunts and Uncles

"There you are," Wesley called out from the doorway.

Faith was in the kitchen, raiding the refrigerator. Pulling out a carton of ice cream, she dove in with a spoon without scooping any into a bowl.

"Hungry. Again. All the freakin' time. God, I'm not gonna be able to get through the door pretty soon."

Wesley walked towards her, and then put his hand over her stomach. She liked the feel of his large hand, protecting what was theirs and only theirs. Earlier in her life, she wouldn't have wanted anyone to touch her like he did. But now, she always wanted him to have his hands on her body. Not that she was horny, but from the telling look in his eyes, she knew he enjoyed it. Being close to another human was important, especially when that human happened to be a person she loved deeply.

"Tomorrow?" Wesley started.

"Tomorrow what?"

"We should tell the others. Before we do the spell."

Faith swallowed. She had grown so used to her link with Wes, she really hadn't thought about how it would feel not being connected to him. But she knew it was for the best.

"I know. It is," he answered her mind out loud.

"I'm scared. Don't tell anyone else about the scared thing. What if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong. Eat your ice cream before it melts."

Faith took another big spoonful and slowly licked it off of the spoon. "Wanna bite?"

Wesley laughed, knowing that she was playing with him. Faith accidentally dribbled some down her chin. Wesley moved closer to clean it off. Instead, he licked it off of her.

"And you complain about me," Faith sighed as Wesley took the spoon from her and dribbled it down between her breasts.

His mouth traveled down past her throat, cleaning up the intentional mess that he had left. Just when he was getting to the good part, someone squealed from behind them.

"Sorry," Denise yelled from the door, slamming it just as suddenly as she had appeared not two seconds before.

Faith laughed as she laid her forehead on his chest. "Once this is over with, we are so out of here."

* * *

"We should get up. The sun is coming up and we have lots to do," Willow giggled.

Giles's head popped up from underneath the blankets behind her. "Dear, just a few more minutes," he told her as he kissed her bare shoulder.

"A few more minutes turn into a few more, then all of a sudden, it's been an hour. And we really do need to talk. And I don't know what Dawn is doing this morning, and I have to get ready for that ritual."

"You're rambling," Giles pointed out. "And yes, we do need to talk about this."

Willow was afraid that Giles would tell her that all they had shared was a mistake and nothing more. So if it was a mistake, then why was he still in bed with her, she thought? Her mind worked way too much sometimes.

"Now tell me what really is happening with you," he finally got around to asking.

"Well, Kennedy broke up with me, my best friends are scattered across the globe, I'm depressed as hell, but not right now mind you, I am so glad you're here right now, and you'll go back to England and I won't get to see you anymore."

Giles sighed as she finished her long, long sentence.

"One, I am truly sorry about Kennedy. Two, I know that Buffy and Xander are scattered across the globe, but we do get together occasionally. Call them, ask them to meet us. Three, you didn't tell me you were depressed. Is there something that I can do to help?"

"See, lots more sentences, but rambling just the same. And you are helping, just by being here. I realize that now." Willow turned towards Giles in the bed, cuddling close.

"You will get to see me, Willow. I'm not going anywhere just yet," Giles told her as he placed a small kiss on her forehead.

"But you will, just like everyone else. And then where will I be, huh?"

Giles shut Willow up with a passionate kiss. "With me, of course. Wherever you want to go."

"Well, I certainly don't want to stay here. Too much going on here. I want it quiet and subdued."

"You'd get bored in a week," Giles pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right. But hey, since I have an in with the new boss, maybe I can be with you."

Giles laughed at her comment. "I will have to have a chat with that new boss and get back to you. In the meantime . . . ."

Willow climbed on top of him, pinning him to the bed.

"Hey, Will, I was just wondering . . . ," Dawn started as she entered the room, until she saw that something wasn't right.

Willow screeched at being interrupted. And then Dawn saw who was in bed with her and screamed too.

"I am scarred for life, Will," Dawn shouted, backing out of the room quickly.

"Oh, as usual, dear," Giles told Willow as she collapsed in a fit of giggles on top of him.

* * *

Dawn scooted down the hall quickly, wondering what had possessed Willow and Giles. She was certainly scarred for life. She wasn't kidding when she said that statement. Two of the people she trusted the most in the world were having sex. Willow was naked as a jailbird. Thank goodness she hadn't been able to see Giles except for his head and maybe an arm.

As she walked into the conference room, Connor leaned in close to Celeste and laughed at something the girl said. After just witnessing the scene with Willow and Giles, Dawn was not in the mood to fight a slayer over her maybe-boyfriend. So Dawn continued to march down the hall until she came upon Wesley and Faith leaning against the wall, thoroughly engrossed in each other.

They hadn't spotted her yet, since they were tucked into an alcove where no one could see them. She really didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it happened.

"So we tell them?" Faith asked Wesley.

"It will be fairly obvious in a couple of month anyway. Besides, you might as well have everyone get used to the fact that you will be a mother in a short time."

Dawn's mouth dropped open. God, the place was like a soap opera, she thought. She really did not want to grow up, or at least when she did, not keep all of the secrets everyone kept.

She continued on through the building, coming upon Cordelia as the woman entered the building.

"Hey, where is . . . ," Cordelia managed to get out before Dawn stuck a finger up at her to warn her.

"Why? That's what I want to know. You people," Dawn growled before heading off outside to cool off.

"Teenagers," Cordelia scoffed and went to find the others.

* * *

An hour later, they all gathered in the large conference room, minus Dawn, who was still sulking on the steps outside the building.

"The ritual is quite simple," Giles started, handing a copy over to Wesley to study.

"Why on earth my father didn't have me complete this is beyond me."

"Maybe because he's an asshole," Faith added.

"There is that," Wesley agreed.

"Rupert, did you perform this before you arrived in Sunnydale?" Wesley asked the older watcher.

"No, I did not. Roger told me that a relative might stand in if the watcher is not present. Apparently my mother performed the ritual. To this day, I never knew."

"Is she still alive?" Wesley asked.

"Yes, which means many questions to ask when I go back to England," Giles replied looking towards Willow, who was setting up for the ritual.

"So first, we break the spell that Cordelia performed," Willow started. "Then we do it properly. If that's what you want."

Faith and Wesley looked at each other. Faith nodded her head, as if to tell him that no time like the present.

"Before we proceed, Faith and I have something to discuss with you all."

"About time," Dawn said from the doorway, scowling towards everyone.

"Dawn, sit down," Connor commanded, taking her hand to lead her to a chair. He didn't let that hand go.

"We need to make sure that Faith cannot be injured by unbinding us," Wesley wanted to know from Willow.

"It shouldn't hurt a bit. Matter a fact, you shouldn't even notice any changes right away. It's like weaning someone off of drugs or alcohol. The link should disappear slowly, maybe over the next six months or so."

Both Faith and Wesley let out held breaths.

"OK, so get discussing," Dawn waved at Wesley impatiently.

"Faith and I wanted everyone to know . . . ."

"Oh, good grief, just spit it out already," Dawn added, getting a harder squeeze from Connor.

"The relationship we have is very close, as you all know."

"Oh my God, are you guys getting married?" Cordelia wanted to know.

"Well, we hadn't thought about it," Faith slowly spoke, looking at Wesley for more words.

"Haven't discussed it as of yet," Wesley added to Faith's comments.

"It's just we decided . . . ."

"Pink or blue?" Dawn piped up.

"Pink or blue?" Cordelia questioned. "Oh, crap," she said, finally realizing what the two were getting to.

"Gee thanks, Cor," Faith told Cordelia.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Giles looked at the two pointedly.

"You know how you guys are always saying to the teenagers, use protection."

"We did," both Faith and Wesley answered simultaneously.

"Oh boy," Willow added to the conversation.

"We're pregnant," Wesley finally said out loud, hanging his head.

"Oh thanks, Wes. This just sucks, you know that," Faith added, standing to march out of the room.

"Sit down, Faith," Wesley commanded.

"Did you just tell me to sit down?" Faith fired back, anger apparent to everyone in the room.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Now if you would please take a seat."

"You unthankful, stupid jerk," Faith suddenly said, trying to think of a better name to call him.

"She's right about that one," Cordelia mumbled to Willow.

"Faith, this is not helping things." Wesley stood toe-to-toe with Faith.

"And this is not good for either one of you, now could you please sit down," Giles finally commanded, stepping in to take charge.

"I can't do this. I can't be here. I have to leave," Faith rambled, trying to escape the room just as Wesley caught her arm.

"Faith, we have to," Willow implored. "Because if we don't do it soon, we may never be able to break the link. It will eventually kill you both."

Faith turned to look at the group. Wesley pleaded at her with his eyes only, chanting to her in his mind that everything would be all right. And that he would take care of her no matter what.

"OK, but you're still a jerk. And this is all your fault."

Faith plopped down in a chair next to him. She pointedly did not look him in the eyes, but underneath the table, she grabbed his hand to steady herself.

Willow quickly went through unbinding them. No one could tell the difference, even the two that were affected. Then Wesley went through the ritual for real, which was just more ritual than anything since it didn't link the two mentally. It just made the two more in tune with each other so they could work better together as watcher and slayer, nothing more, Giles had explained to them earlier. Now Wesley saw why Giles and Buffy were always so close and worked so well together.

Afterwards, both Willow and Cordelia gathered around Faith to ask all sorts of questions about babies. Giles drew Wesley aside as the rest talked.

"Don't say it. I know you don't approve," Wesley started.

"I did not say that I didn't approve. But this does change everything. Faith is out of commission for the next year or more. Which doesn't get her fired, mind you. But you are out of a job. I was wondering if you could do some consulting work for me."

Wesley smiled at Giles, knowing that Giles didn't have to offer him a job. "That would be acceptable."

"But first, do you love her?" Giles asked him.

"Deeply, immensely and with all my heart."

Giles shook his head in acknowledgment. "Then I wish you luck. And the job I have for you is to translate a book." Giles pulled the book from the table and handed it to Wesley. "This is what your father was going to give Ethan. It's a book of prophecies. One that I've never seen nor heard of before."

Wesley shook his head in wonder. "I don't exactly have the best track record with prophecies."

"Well, I don't either. This is in a language that I do not recognize. If anyone can translate it, you can."

Wesley was glad that the older man finally had confidence in him to do a job.

"Two?" Wesley heard Cordelia exclaim.

"Whoa. You two don't do anything easily, do you?" Willow added.

"Umm, are they referring to the two of you?" Giles questioned Wesley.

"No, not exactly. Faith is having twins."

"You're joking," Giles told him.

Wesley glared at his new boss. "No."

"Oh, dear. Willow is right."

"Two?" Dawn repeated. "Wow. OK, I call first dibs on holding them."

"Nu uh," Cordelia disagreed.

Faith watched as the three went back and forth talking about babies. Wesley watched her as her head literally spun out of control. As if getting the hint, Giles pulled Willow aside to whisper in her ear. Connor got Dawn's attention and drew her aside. This took some pressure off of Faith for the time being.

"Wes, can I talk to you, outside?" Cordelia asked, shaking her head to Faith.

Wesley and Cordelia made their way to the corridor outside the conference room. Wesley crossed his arms, standing against the wall in a defensive posture, not knowing why she would want to talk to him again. They had already settled their differences.

Cordelia stood on the opposite wall, arms crossed over her chest, mirroring Wesley's stance. "So, congratulations are in order," Cordelia started.

"Thank you."

"It's great news. I can't wait to tell Angel."

Wesley stiffened at the prospect of him knowing about the babies.

"He'll be happy for you. He's forgiven you. Look at Connor. He's healthy, somewhat happy now, I hope."

Wesley hoped that Angel was past all the grief of the last couple of years. "We don't know that."

"Well, if Dawn has any say in it, he'll be in good hands."

"What about you? Are you happy? Have you forgiven me?"

Cordelia drew in a deep breath. "Am I happy? Good question. One I'll have to work on. Have I forgiven you? Damn, Wes. You're my best friend besides Angel. We all make mistakes. Don't you ever think that way again."

Cordelia's eyes started to form tears. She quickly tried to get them to go away, but wasn't having any luck. Wesley slowly walked over to her, and tipped her chin back to look at him. Her bottom lip quivered just slightly as she searched his face for forgiveness.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked her.

"I don't know. I'm just a girl now. No special powers. Nothing."

"You are more than just those visions. And you aren't just a girl. You're Cordelia Chase."

Cordelia shook her head in agreement. "Damn straight," she told him trying to hold it together, but not succeeding. "It's just, I'm afraid. We won't be together anymore."

"You can come and visit. I suppose we'll need help after the babies are born."

"You suppose? Ha. You better believe it."

"Are you alright now?" he asked her as he pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah, I will be."

* * *

"Faith, I do believe that you will need a leave of absence," Giles told her as he sat down beside her at the table.

"Yeah, probably for the best. Besides, who would want to deal with a pregnant slayer? Might take all the demons out on one of my hormonal rampages."

Giles chuckled slightly until he looked at Faith. She was quite serious. "I hope you don't mind. I gave Wesley a consulting job, just to tide you over."

"He needs to be Mr. Hyper-focused. It'll do him good to actually sit for a while and not get punched in the face. The last year has been hard on him."

Giles looked at her like she had grown two heads, yet again. "I just have never seen you that concerned about someone else. It's a good thing, I assure you. How do you feel, by the way?"

"Fine. Eating like there's no tomorrow."

"Good," Giles shook his head.

"There's something I wanted to ask you," Faith told the watcher before he got up from the table. "I was wondering, since the babies don't have any, you know, family, if down the road you could help out a little, because all kids need an older guy kind of thing."

"Just as long as they don't call me grandpa, I'd be honored," Giles beamed back.

"How about Uncle Rupert then?"

"Oh, are you an uncle then? Can I be an aunt?" Willow asked as she came by.

"Yeah, Aunt Willow it is. These kids are gonna have so many aunts and uncles, they won't need any blood relatives."

"Don't call me Aunt Dawn, because I'm just not old enough," Dawn joined in. "But I can babysit."

"Yeah, me too," Connor added, everyone looking at him like he was crazy. "You guys can teach me. I'm not stupid."

"Yeah, right. Not stupid," Dawn chided him.

 


	10. Prophecies

Chapter Ten – Prophecies

Six months later …

"Damn," Faith said as she opened the door. "Sorry, I mean, happy to see you."

Faith was trying really hard to change her ways. Cleaning up her language, playing nice with others, and the list went on and on. Not that Wes didn't need some help either. She was still worried she wouldn't get it right and her children would end up like her.

"You're as big as a house," Dawn commented as she walked in the door.

Faith growled under her breath. If she heard that comment one more time, someone was going down. Even if it was a little old lady at the grocery store she talked to yesterday.

Faith sighed though, trying to make sure she didn't go ballistic on the kid. By the look on Dawn's face, that wouldn't be a great idea at the moment. Leading her over to a couch, Dawn plopped down hard and started crying. Why did she have to cry? Faith didn't know what to do.

"I hate him. I hate him. I hate him," Dawn chanted.

Wonder who she was thinking about, Faith thought sarcastically? She so didn't want to track the boy down and slap him around some.

"We know that, Dawn. But what did he do?"

"He's in trouble. And he won't do a damn thing to help himself. Angel just lets him brood. I just want to slap him silly."

Connor in trouble. What a surprise? Since the kid seemed to be always in trouble for something or another, it didn't surprise Faith one bit.

"What'd he do?"

"He killed someone."

Oops, didn't see that one coming, Faith thought. "When? Hasn't he been with you the last six months?"

"No, he hasn't the whole time. And this was a while ago. Back when Cordy was evil. A girl. He actually confessed to killing this girl. Cordy says she did it, and then Connor says he did it. Well, they believed him. Lindsey's trying everything to get him off, but I don't think it's gonna work."

So Connor had crossed that line. Not that he hadn't been under the influence of an evil being at the time. But she knew what it felt like to have to atone for the wrongs that one committed.

"Dawn, if he did this, he needs to do the time."

"But it wasn't his fault," Dawn whined.

It was her fault that the deputy mayor had been killed by her hands. It had been an accident. She didn't mean to kill the guy. It was her reaction to the killing that was wrong. Blaming Buffy for it, and then running to the mayor when things got a little hot, all of that was her fault. And every wrong she committed after joining with the mayor, that was definitely her fault. Lots of people had been injured or died because of her alliance with the mayor. She should have confessed right away. Her life would have been so different if she had.

"He needs to do what's right."

"Yeah, which means to leave me. Dammit, I did not survive the hell that I went through the last year just to have it all fall apart now."

Dawn was working up a full head of steam and Faith just wanted to lie down and sleep. The babies were kicking her bladder something fierce, Wesley had driven into town to pick up a package, and Dawn the whiner child had showed up on her doorstep. What else could go wrong?

Faith sat on her couch, in her little house and sighed. She and Wes had bailed out of slayer central a couple of weeks after the unbinding had been performed. They both wanted some peace and solitude for a while. So they had decided to move to a small town just south of Cleveland. Faith didn't really miss the slaying stuff. She kept fit, walking around the lake near their cottage, she took a class at the local community college, and she took it easy in general. The first time in her life she had time to actually relax. Of course, carrying around two extra lives, in addition to fifty extra pounds, that would slow anyone down.

They had only lived in the place for five months, and one wall was already covered with books. Angel had shipped what he could find that was left in Wes's old apartment. Faith had thought that was enough until packages started showing up from all over the world. But she had gotten used to the clutter and the smell. That smell in addition to the clean air smell and the tea that Wes brewed every day made her calm.

"Would you like some tea?" Faith asked Dawn, not sure where to go next with the teenager.

"Uh, sure. You drink tea now?"

"You learn to adapt. With enough sugar, it's great. Of course, then these two start dancing on my bladder."

Just then the two in question moved around, making her belly look like the alien ready to pop out in that one movie. Dawn's eyes widened considerably.

"Wow. That is so cool. What's it feel like?"

"Like I'm being beaten up on the inside. Hey, stop with the kicking kid so I can breathe," Faith told her stomach, rubbing a spot where it looked like an elbow had emerged.

Faith levered herself up off of the couch very slowly. If she became any larger, the couch wouldn't be an option anymore, unless Wes was there to actually pull her up.

"I can't believe how domesticated you are?" Dawn started, earning a frown from Faith.

"It's OK. Takes a little getting used to."

Faith wobbled over to the stove and turned on the burner to heat water for the tea. Wes had taught her how to make tea the right way. Faith laughed at the memory, since the first time she had made tea for him, she had just stuck a cup of water in the microwave and pushed a button. She thought he was going to have a coronary right there in the kitchen. At least he had been sweet about it, or maybe it was because she could still throw him across the room.

"What am I going to do about Connor?"

"Do you love him?"

Dawn opened, and then closed her mouth several times, like she didn't know how to answer. "I don't know," Dawn honestly told her, starting to shed tears again.

"Let Angel and Cordy help. It'll all work out in the end. I'm sure."

* * *

"I'm gonna strangle him, Angel," Cordelia yelled to the vampire.

Angel covered his ears, ready for a full on Cordy screech. With his sensitive hearing, she could make his ears ring for days when she screeched.

"Are you even listening to me?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm listening. It's just, Connor has a mind of his own. He wants to do this, Cordy. He made a mistake."

"But it's not his fault."

Angel knew that Cordy felt guilty, like it was her fault that the girl had died. "He killed that girl."

"Angel, I did. I mean evil Cordy did. Why won't anyone believe me?"

Connor had confessed to killing the girl. Angel knew that Cordy was trying to protect Connor. He just hoped that there weren't some leftover feelings that Cordy had for Connor. Now that would just suck.

"But he said he did it."

"He's just trying to protect me. He couldn't do it. Why doesn't anyone believe me?"

Cordelia sat down on the couch and cried. Angel was getting a little worried that maybe what Cordy said was true. She had sworn up and down that it was her fault. It was until now that he started to believe her. He knew why Connor had confessed, but why was he taking the blame if she really did do the crime?

"Why would he lie?" Angel asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

Was his son still in love with her? He had thought, hoped that Connor would move on. There were indications that he was taken with Dawn. But she had left abruptly, especially after Connor had told everyone that it was his responsibility and he would suffer the consequences.

"Because that evil bitch needed the blood for a ritual. Darla told him not to do it."

"What? Darla was there? She's dead."

This was the first time Cordy had ever mentioned that Darla was there, trying to stop Connor.

"They sent her to try and stop him. And it almost worked. The evil bitch found out and killed the girl. It was me. I killed that girl."

Cordelia sighed, putting her head between her hands. Ever since Connor had confessed a couple of weeks before, she had ranted about how he was innocent. It wasn't until now that Angel believed her.

"Let's talk to Lindsey again. See what we can do."

Angel really didn't want to see Cordelia go to jail any more than he wanted to see his own son go to jail. There was no lesser of two evils in his mind. He had many times tried to kill people just because of his son. What is bad karma coming back to haunt him because of what he tried to do for his son? And Cordelia had suffered so much for him over the years. That's why he chose to believe Connor. The boy had been strong in his conviction that he had done something wrong and wanted to atone for it. But in the end, if he had just been protecting Cordelia, Angel didn't know what to think other than like father, like son.

* * *

Wesley strode along the sidewalk to go to the post office, literally giddy at the prospect of the new book that he had bought arriving. It was the last piece of the puzzle that he needed to complete the translation of the book Giles had given him. He had pieced it together slowly, but none of it made sense. The book he had obtained though should be able help him make sense of all the pieces.

What he didn't expect to see was the flash of red hair coming down the street. Sometimes, he wished he hadn't had his eyes fixed, so he could just take his glasses off and act like he'd been blind from about three feet away.

Their lives had been so quiet and idyllic; he knew that at one point that it would end. But the two had needed this time to get to know each other better, and to take care of each other. There was still so much he needed to learn about Faith. She never failed to intrigue him though.

He had even thought how nice it would be to stay in the small town they had found together on a drive one day. It would be a great place to raise the children. But he knew that Faith wouldn't be able to do her job, so he resigned himself to the fact that they would move eventually. But whatever she decided, he would be happy.

The redhead waved at him before he could open the post office door. He should have just looked away and went in anyway. Or maybe they should have moved far, far away from all of this nonsense, never looking back. Don't think that sometimes he didn't think what it would be like to just throw it all away and start over.

"Wesley, I'm glad I caught up with you," Willow started, out of breath from jogging down the street.

"How are things, Willow? Is there an emergency that I should know about?"

"Oh, no emergency. Just wanted to talk to you."

"So, why are you here? I thought that you were in England with Giles?"

Willow's face darkened considerably. "We're not saying that name anymore."

Oh, great, Wesley thought. The two had a tiff. After having a fight with Faith, Wesley would count the number of bruises that he might have. He wouldn't want to be in Giles's shoes though. Willow could literally toss him out a window with the flick of a finger. At least Faith would have to work for it.

"I'm sorry, Willow. I need to retrieve a book from the post." Wesley pointed to the door.

"Oh, sorry. You go right ahead. I'll be right here."

Wesley pulled the door open, and Willow followed right behind.

"Wesley, why are men such jerks?" Willow asked him as they stood in line.

Since he was a male of the species, he didn't exactly know how to answer her other than to shrug his shoulders.

"I'll tell you why they're such jerks. You tell them one thing, they do another. Then they blame you for everything. Not like they're perfect or anything. Then they break up with you, out of the blue mind you. No explanations, no I'm sorry. It's just, I'm breaking up with you. See ya. Adios."

Several people in line were listening to Willow's tirade. Wesley didn't exactly know how to tell her that. He lived in a small town where everyone knew everything. And the post office was the best place for the know-it-alls to hear it. He had figured that out in the first week. That was why so many people were in line at any time of the day. Everyone came to pick up their mail. Which meant everyone talked to everyone else at least once a day. There were upsides to living in a big city, he thought.

"So he broke up with you?" Wesley asked, trying to sound sincere.

"Yeah. Like he's any great shakes."

"So why are you here? Not like I don't like seeing you and all."

"I went back to Cleveland. And who should be there? Kennedy. Just what I needed. So I got into a fight with her too. I just needed to cool off, so I thought, what the hell. I'll visit the two of you for a few days until I can figure some things out. Don't worry. I'm staying at the motel down the street."

Wesley breathed a sigh of relief. Not that he wouldn't have offered to her to come and stay with them. But Faith might not appreciate that.

"So how's Faith? Getting big I bet."

"You might not want to mention that to her. Kind of touchy right now."

"Oh, I get it. Pregnancy hormones. Right. I'll keep my mouth shut. Hey, so when are you two gonna get married?"

The whole room went silent. Wesley could feel the blush creep up his throat and spread all over his face. It would be all over town in about an hour that he and Faith weren't actually married. They hadn't told anyone one way or the other. Now everyone knew that they weren't.

"Not sure," he mumbled back.

"I bet Buffy and that Lindsey character will be married before the two of you are. I can't believe that she's still dating him. Evil lawyer guy. Never would have figured it. At least the lawyer part, I mean."

Wesley reached the counter and asked the clerk for the package that was waiting for him. The clerk handed him a small package, which he signed for quickly, not wanting Willow to give out any more information to the public at large.

Walking out of the post office, Wesley turned to walk down the street to his car. Willow still followed him. "Angel? Does he know?"

"Yeah. A little tweaked at first. I think he and Lindsey had it out. I don't think that bones were broken or anything, just a few scrapes and bruises. Now he's cool. And I think that Angel has enough to worry about at the moment. Connor has confessed to killing some girl."

Wesley halted his progress. "Damn. He didn't kill anyone."

"That's what Cordelia told everyone. No one believed her. She said she did it."

Wesley shook his head. Cordy was trying to take the blame when it was evil Cordy's fault? It sounded to him like Connor was trying to protect Cordelia.

"So what's happening now?"

"Lindsey's trying to get him off, or reduce the time."

Having a formerly evil lawyer on your case helped, Wesley thought. He'd know some tricks to help Connor out, if Connor wanted to be helped. His family sure was a dysfunctional lot.

Just as he was ready to ask Willow to dinner, Faith and Dawn pulled up in a rental car. Since they only could afford one car, Faith had to stay put if he needed to run an errand. Their neighbors weren't very far away in case Faith needed something, which was why Wesley could actually run errands without worrying too much.

Dawn pulled up behind them. Faith tugged her body up out of the car very slowly. Wesley knew not to help her unless she asked. She hadn't been very pleasant the last time he tried helping her out of the car without permission.

"Dawnie. I didn't know you were here," the wicca said as she enveloped Dawn in a bear hug.

"Just arrived."

Wesley could feel the eyes of the town on the four of them, but he didn't care. He took his turn giving Dawn a hug too.

"Hey, what about the pregnant lady here." Willow hugged Faith too. "I was kinda talkin' about him," Faith grinned as Wesley placed a small kiss on her cheek.

"Sorry," Willow said to the slayer.

"Just kidding. I thought you were in England with Giles." Willow's eyes darkened this time. Her usual sunny green disappeared. "Sorry. Not askin'."

"Men are jerks. You know that, Willow," Dawn started.

Willow readily agreed with the younger woman.

"Yeah, most of them are," Faith agreed, grinning at Wesley the whole time. "But they have their uses."

Dawn snorted at the comment. "Who's up for ice cream?"

"We are," Faith said, rubbing her ever-expanding belly.

* * *

Faith groaned as she tried to sit up in bed. She really shouldn't have had that much ice cream in one sitting. But she had. Where one scoop probably should have done it, she had ordered a sundae with all the fixings. Add to that a huge dinner. And now she was paying for it with indigestion. There just wasn't any room anymore for organs and breathing and bladders. She was one big, baby making machine. She ate every hour, unless she was sleeping. And she went to the bathroom every hour, but it really didn't matter if she was sleeping. Which was why she slept when she could, because she was always interrupted by the bathroom trip.

The bed was cold beside her. Not like that hadn't happened before. Wes sometimes stayed up late working on some translation. When he got going, she'd sometimes have to strip naked in front of him just to get his attention. Now with her protruding belly, she doubted that would even entice him now. Sure, he said that he loved how she looked. But she really was as big as a house.

Padding down the hallway, she saw the light on in the small den off to the side of the kitchen. It was his space and his space only. Faith tried staying out of that room as much as possible. She was afraid that she'd mess up his system or something. If you could call organized chaos a system.

As she entered the room, Wesley's back was to the door. She noticed that his hands shook a little as he turned the pages of the new book he had gotten from the post office earlier in the day. Hoping that this wasn't another withdrawal symptom, she cleared her throat to get his attention. He'd had a few more episodes after the first two really bad ones, then nothing. And they weren't as bad thankfully. He still didn't turn at her sound.

Slowly she placed her arms around his shoulders, leaning down to nuzzle his neck.

"Hello," he said softly as he finally noticed she was in the room.

"It's late, watcherman. Come to bed."

"I will. Shortly."

Faith could feel how tense his body was at the moment. She didn't need the link anymore to tell that something was wrong. The link may have been great to read his thoughts, but she had learned more from his body language in the past six months to know when he was worried.

"Spill, buddy."

Wesley chuckled a little at Faith. His hand came up to grab hers. He turned in his desk chair to face her, placing his free hand and his head against her belly. His gesture was answered with a well-placed kick from her insides.

"Hello in there. Your mother is a very perceptive woman. Which means you'll not be able to get away with anything when you're teenagers."

Faith laughed at Wesley. He often talked to her belly. And most of the time, one or both of them would answer back in the form of kicks or punches. This one was answered with both, which made Faith wince slightly.

"Hey, guys. No fighting over your daddy."

Wesley slowly got up from his chair, taking his hands up her body until they were behind her head. He pulled her head back for a searing kiss that she felt all the way down to her toes. And she knew exactly what he was trying to do.

"Distraction will get you nowhere. Now, why are you all broody?"

Wesley wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. "Not broody. Just worried."

"About what? If it's Connor, it'll all work out in the end."

"Not that, although I am quite worried about that also. No, it's the translation."

Wesley pulled back to look into her eyes.

"What is it? Another apocalypse, end of the world kind of thingy? Cause we haven't had one of those lately."

At least Faith hoped that wasn't what it was. She really didn't want something like that to screw up her time with Wes.

"I'm not exactly sure at the moment. I need more time."

"Don't try that one on me, buster. Tell me what you've figured out so far."

"Come on. Let's go sit."

Wesley led her into the living room, settling her on the couch next to him. They just sat there for a while, Faith cuddled up next to him. The tension eased in him somewhat, but she still wanted the story from him.

"So?" she finally broke the silence of the dimly lit room.

"I've figured out a way to translate the prophecies in the book finally."

"Oh, goody, goody. And by the sound of your voice, it's not good."

"I'm not sure yet, as I said before. But I now know why my father and Ethan wanted the book."

"Obviously not for the naked girly pictures."

Wesley snickered in laughter. Rubbing her palm slowly, he raised his head to look into her eyes.

"No. No pictures in this book. It talks about you, Faith."

Oh great, she thought. Now what was she gonna do? Prophecies were such bullshit in her book. The ones involving Buffy had always been proven wrong, and the one that Wes translated about Angel proved to be false.

"What? How pretty I am, or how big my belly can get, cause if something doesn't happen soon with these two, I swear they'll come out talking and walking."

"I agree with the first part. On the second part, I'm not the expert."

"No, you're just the expert in making this happen," Faith grinned. "So? Stop changing the subject."

"All right. It talks about a new kind of slayer. Faster, better, stronger. Your name is mentioned. I don't know if it happens to you or not. I haven't put all the pieces together. I'm just worried that it won't be you it happens to."

Now that was curious, she thought. He didn't want something like that to happen to her. Not that she wouldn't love some new, cool power that she could use to kick some demon butt. But she kinda liked what she could do now. Learning to use some other power might not be so much fun.

"OK, so it mentions me. Why don't you think it happens to me?"

"As I said, I'm not done putting the pieces together."

"Is it evil? I mean, it always seems like these prophecies have something to do with evil."

"I'm just not sure yet. I don't know if I'll ever be."

"But it has you tense. Which means you have a theory, right?"

Wesley looked down at her belly and swallowed tightly.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no. No way."

"Faith, we have no way of knowing what they will be like after they are born. We don't even know what sex either one of them will be. Remember, we wanted to wait."

"What does that have to do with anything? They're babies."

Wesley wouldn't look her in the eyes now. Which made her even angrier.

"Yes, but according to my research, there have only been few instances of slayers ever having children. This is unprecedented. You realize that?"

"Yeah, I kinda knew that. But what about Robin? Slayer's son."

"Yes, he is. I just wished the Council had not gotten destroyed. It would have made this much easier. From what I can gather, when a slayer has had a child, they always have been sons. Of course, most of the records were lost in the explosion."

"So if one of these is a girl, could she be a slayer?"

"There's a good possibility, yes. And with my genes mixed into it, that makes the odds go up even more."

"Now I know why they don't let watchers screw slayers. Might create a superslayer or something."

Wesley winced at her comment. She hadn't meant to make him feel uncomfortable. But he was. He knew what his duty was and even though he wasn't an official watcher anymore, he still was hers.

"From what I can gather, they tried that many years ago. It didn't turn out right."

"Right? As in the baby died, or not right as in it wasn't right. You know what I mean."

"No. It was healthy. The Council back in those days was even scarier than the one we knew. Apparently from the text that I just received, they performed all sorts of tests to determine if the child was a slayer."

"Hey, they're not touching these two. I swear, if any of them come near these babies, I'll snap their necks."

"As would I. And Giles would too. He's in charge for a reason."

Faith was glad that the man was the head honcho. But what if he wasn't? Would that put the children in danger?

"So what's the sitch? There a prophecy about one of them in that book of yours?"

"I've only figured out the part about a new kind of slayer. So I don't know."

"But it worries you."

"I just thought that our children could escape all this nonsense. Be normal, healthy children. Instead, one or both of them could die an early death."

So that's what he was worried about. It wasn't that he knew what would happen to them in the future. He was worried about what they would be. Now so was she.

"So, we'll make it as normal as possible. We can, you know."

"Yes, I have no doubt about that."

"You're just playin' the protective papa. But until we know more, we'll just keep telling ourselves that it will be OK."

"It will be."

"OK, Mr. Sappy Englishman. You need some rest or that translation will not happen. Besides, we're not gonna be alone too much longer. I want to spend all the time I can with you before number one and number two decide they want to come out and play."

Faith pulled him down to a gentle kiss. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt, placing light kisses where her fingers touched his skin. Maneuvering was sometimes hard for her now, but she just wanted to feel him against her for a little while, to take away his worries.

"You know, this couch isn't the best place," he moaned as she jerked the shirt off his body.

"Ouch," Faith groaned as she moved the wrong way. "Yeah, you're right. Help me up so we can go and do this right."

Wesley pulled her up off the couch into an embrace, for which he received a solid kick.

"They never slow down, do they?"

"Oh God, if you could feel all of this stuff inside of you moving around, I'm sure you'd freak."

Wesley nodded in agreement. "Bedroom?"

"Remember when we could do it anywhere? Those were the days."

"I think that's why your belly is sticking out in the first place."

Faith took his hand in hers to lead him into the bedroom. "You talk too much."

 


	11. It'll All Be Worth It

Chapter Eleven – It'll All Be Worth It

Faith rolled over in bed, watching the sun starting to rise through the window. Her man beside her was snoring lightly, hand tucked under his cheek. It made him look so much younger. She just hoped that one of the children looked like him. Slowly, she raised herself out of bed, going to the bathroom for the millionth time. Her stomach tightened somewhat as she put her feet to the floor. The doctor had called them Brax, something or other contractions. She couldn't remember the real name of them, so she just called them false. Waiting until it passed, she then gingerly walked to the bathroom. She'd been having a bunch of them in the past couple of days, but just ignored them because the pain wasn't so bad.

After doing the business she had to do, she looked in the mirror to brush her teeth. Her stomach was especially queasy that morning. She could see the dark circles under her eyes, since she wasn't getting much sleep. Between the indigestion and the bathroom trips, she was lucky to get a good five solid hours of sleep a night.

As she raised a glass to her mouth to get a drink of water, a pain so intense hit her, she let the glass slip out of her hands. It racked her whole body enough so that the glass hit the sink and shattered before she could catch it. And a dream came along with the pain. A girl, not too much younger than she was, in an alley, fighting for her life. Beside her was someone who looked an awful lot like Angel, but much younger. There must have been twenty, thirty demons surrounding the two. And they weren't winning. They were being overwhelmed. She screamed when she saw the girl go down.

* * *

Willow sat in front of the window of the motel's coffee shop, sipping the worst coffee she had ever tasted. But it woke her up. That was all that mattered. She hadn't slept at all the night before, and still couldn't sleep in the early morning hours. So she decided to get up and face the music. The package she had received the night before said it all. A book of poems was inside, with a note attached that just said, "I'm sorry". That was all it said. No signature, no explanation, nothing. She didn't know what to do. Should she forgive Giles and go back to England or should she blow it off, sending the book directly back to him with a note saying "I don't think so"?

Maybe she had overblown the whole thing. Maybe she was wrong to think that he had broken up with her. Things had been going well. Well, things had been going all right. Both had been working non-stop to train slayers, train watchers, train new wiccas. They both were downright tired. Neither had a break in the last six months.

But when she had walked in to tell him that she needed a vacation, if just a couple of days, he had shushed her. Taking a vacation would just not be possible, he told her. They would plan one in the near future, but at the moment, he was swamped. That was when she flew off the handle and told him that he didn't care about her. Then they fought, and both said things they didn't mean. And then he had told her that they should take some time away from each other. Which she interpreted as meaning they should break up. And off to Cleveland she went.

Dawn strode in the coffee shop next, plopping down next to the wicca, a tired look in her eyes.

"So, no sleeping for you either?" Willow asked the younger girl.

"No, not really. I just got a call from Angel though. It looks like they're not gonna charge him with murder."

"But that's good, right?"

Dawn looked at her, shaking her head vigorously. "Yeah, right. But now they're gonna charge Cordelia with manslaughter."

"Oh, boy. Not good."

Dawn laid her head down on Willow's shoulder. "Wes is not going to take it well. We should tell him today."

"So, what are they going to do with her? Put her in jail?"

"No, Angel doesn't think so. Lindsey will probably be able to get her off with probation, maybe some in-house detention, or whatever you call it. I just don't understand Connor."

"What's to understand? He is his father's son."

"You got that right. I just don't know what to do with him," Dawn told her, a tear escaping.

Willow took her hand and squeezed. "You'll figure him out eventually."

"Yeah, right. I wish."

"Do you want it or not?"

"I think I do. I'm scared, you know."

"Me too. I owe Rupert an apology. How do you say you're sorry from half way across the world."

"Well, you pick up the phone, or in this case, you tell him yourself," Dawn said, slowing down on the last words.

She pointed out who had just come into the coffee shop. A haggard-looking Giles, coat over his shoulder, walked over to their booth.

"You look like hell," Dawn pointed out.

"Yes, well, when one has to follow a person half way across the world and has gotten no sleep in the past forty-eight hours, it would make you look a little tired."

Dawn grinned up at the older man, knowing it was now time to make her exit. Waving goodbye to the two, she went back to her room to call Connor again, for the third time, just to talk to him. And to figure out what in hell she was going to do.

"Hello," Giles started.

"I am so busted."

"I don't know about busted, but you left without telling me where on earth you were going."

Giles sat down across from her in the booth. The waitress quickly dropped a cup of coffee his way and left.

"It's really leaded, so be careful. And I'm avoiding your question too, if you didn't notice."

Giles sighed and sat back to look at Willow. "I had noticed. And you also totally avoided me and left the country."

"That you did notice. Very perceptive of you."

"This is not funny," Giles told her, clearly getting annoyed and a little angry.

"Didn't say it was. So what do we do now? Go back to the way it was? If that's the option, then I don't want any part of it."

Giles rubbed his face, trying to wake up and trying to figure out what to do next. "This isn't exactly how I pictured this either."

"It seems that we're at an impasse."

"It does seem so."

Giles looked at her and made her cringe. She hated when he got that look in his eyes, that you ran over my puppy look.

"Why did you come all the way here to tell me this? Seems that you could have just picked up the phone to tell me."

Giles held up her cell phone in his hands and laid it on the table in front of her. "Not if I have no means of contacting you."

"So you fly all the way to Cleveland, and then start hunting me, is that it?"

Giles slammed his hand down on the table, making the cups jump. Silverware clattered to the floor. Most of Willow's significant others had never literally gotten mad at her. Oz was so laid back, and Tara so sweet, both had expressed their unhappiness with her through words. Only Kennedy had gotten mad at her like this, and that was one reason why they weren't together anymore. Oh, and the fact that Kennedy cheated on her and Willow found out, but she wouldn't tell Giles that.

"I know you're angry," Willow started, trying to make him see her point of view.

"Words don't describe what I'm feeling at the moment."

The few people who were in the coffee shop at that very early hour looked over at the scene unfolding.

"Let's go outside," Willow suggested, getting a little angry herself.

"It's raining outside, Willow."

Willow got up anyway, hoping that the rain would cool Giles's jets just a little. And maybe cool her jets too. So instead of asking him again, she got up and strode out the door, pulling on her jacket before she stepped out into the rain.

"You're running again," Giles told her as he joined her.

"Yep. So what? You should know about that too."

Giles stepped in front of her. She thought to get her attention, but he placed his hands around her shoulders and shook her, none too gently.

"Does it look like I'm running now? You scared me, Willow."

Then he pulled her into a tight embrace, nearly smothering her in the process. He loves me, she thought. He really does love me. Enough to drop everything, fly wherever she had landed and trace her to a small town out in the middle of nowhere just to talk to her.

"I didn't mean to," Willow cried. "It's just I didn't know how to talk to you. So I ran. OK? Happy?"

"At the moment, I'm tired and I appear to be getting soaked to the bone."

He pulled back slightly to look at her. Since the sun hadn't risen all the way, it was hard to actually see into his eyes. But she knew now what she would find there.

"Compromise?" she asked hesitantly.

"Compromise. I'm not promising that it'll be easy."

"Easy, shmeasy. When is it ever with us? I was supposed to go see Wes and Faith this morning. Would you like to come with?"

Giles smiled down at her. "That would be lovely."

"Faith's big. It's really amazing. She's domesticated now."

"You don't say."

They walked arm in arm back to Willow's room. She hoped that they could work out their differences. She really wanted to work out their differences. He was right, she thought. It wouldn't be easy. But it just might be worth it.

* * *

Coming out of the dream, Faith looked down to the flood on the floor. Wesley came racing in just as she looked up at the door.

"Faith?"

"I think my water just broke," she told him, holding one of her hands that she had cut on the breaking glass.

"OK. Um, we know what to do. But let's fix your hand first."

Faith tried to shake the dream away. There were more important things to focus on at the moment. But she couldn't. She knew that the image was the future. How much in the future was up for grabs. But the pain in her belly took her mind away from it for a while.

Wesley efficiently bandaged her hand as she sat on the toilet.

"Are you OK? You seem to be in a daze," he asked her.

"A little worried. It's too soon."

"Remember the doctor said any time would be fine."

Faith laid her head on his shoulder as he crouched in front of her, wanting to tell him what she saw. She just hoped, no prayed that the two would be boys. Not that she didn't want a girl. But the nightmare that she had just experienced made her hope for the other.

"I had a dream." Might as well tell him. She didn't keep secrets anymore.

"What about?" he asked as he helped her up to go into the bedroom.

"A girl, a boy, an alley. They were fighting. They weren't winning."

"The future maybe?" The lines of worry appeared on Wesley's face.

"I think so. The girl looked a lot like me. The boy, believe it or not looked a hell of a lot like Angel, but younger. Kind of confusing."

Wes threw her the ugliest pregnancy dress that she had.

"It will be alright. Please don't fret," Wesley told her as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Contraction," Faith grounded out.

Wesley held her until it passed. "That lasted almost a minute. And it was five minutes since the last one."

"Yeah, well it ain't gonna get any better. And you get to hold my hand every time," Faith confessed to him, smirking just a little.

"You'll break my hand."

"At least it's not some other body part. Don't be a baby."

Wesley grimaced a little, glad that Faith was still in good spirits. "Let's get ready."

"You should call Willow and Dawn. They'll wanna know."

That's when the chaos started. Wesley rushed around, trying to find his phone, trying to find her suitcase, not succeeding at all. It was like watching that 'I Love Lucy' episode when Lucy was pregnant. That was her favorite show when she was little and she watched it with her grandmother. So she just watched until she couldn't take it anymore. Faith found the suitcase, picked up the cell phone and marched out the door.

"Oh good. You found them," he told her, still frazzled.

"Am I gonna have to drive too, or can you find the hospital?"

Wesley scowled at her. "Of course I can find the hospital. We practiced, didn't we?"

They had practiced. Just to avoid what was happening right then. Wesley opened the passenger side door for her and helped her in. Before he shut the door, another contraction hit. Wes had seen her in pain many, many times. And he had never freaked out, until now.

"Quit staring at me and get in the freakin' car," she growled out to him.

"Yes, quite right," he answered, racing to the other side.

He took off in the car before she could get the seatbelt over her expanded belly. Finally clicking the thing in place, she watched his hands tap nervously on the steering wheel. It was driving her bananas.

"Hands," she told him.

He pulled them tightly against the steering wheel. Another intense contraction hit her, making her clutch her stomach.

"That was only two minutes," Wesley swallowed.

"I know," Faith was able to get out. "We're not gonna make it to the hospital."

"What? How can you know?" Wesley yelled at her.

Faith looked over at him, giving him her best I-know-what-I'm-talking-about look. "Because I have to push right now."

Wesley skidded to a halt on the side of the road. Since it was early in the morning and the roads were wet from the night before, no one was out just yet. And they were miles from the hospital. The doctors had told her it would take her hours, maybe even days before she would deliver and not to worry, since these were her first children. But the children weren't listening at the moment. They wanted to make their appearance way too quickly.

Wesley rushed around to her side, opening the door in a flourish.

"You should get in the back. More room," he squeaked out, voice high.

Faith snarled at him, handing him the cell phone. He took it from her and tried to place a call.

"No signal," he frowned at her. "We're in that black hole."

Faith shook her head. Figures. "Help me up, bozo."

Wesley helped her to the backseat of the car. Before she could climb in, another contraction hit. She doubled over in pain, slipping a little. Wesley caught her before she slid to the wet ground. They managed to get in on the second try after the contraction had passed.

"I don't know what to do," he panted out, tired from helping her position herself in the backseat.

Faith slapped him hard. "Well, figure it out. You were in the same birthing class I was, Mr. Headboy."

"Are you sure? We maybe could make it."

Faith grabbed a hold of his coat, shaking him. "I'm really sure," she shouted.

Wesley pulled back slightly, wincing at her tirade. "I suppose you are," he agreed.

"I have to push," she groaned out.

Wesley looked down in between Faith's legs. "I do believe that you're right."

"When we are done with this, we are gonna have words," Faith managed to get out before she pushed.

After the first push, Faith laid back on the seat, panting.

"Wait. We need something to wrap the baby in."

Wesley climbed out of the back and opened the trunk to retrieve the suitcase. He opened it up and took out whatever clothing he could find.

"Not waiting," Faith got out before she started to push again.

Wesley scrambled back inside the car in time to see the head crowning. "Oh boy," he breathed. "It has dark hair," he mentioned.

"No shit, Sherlock."

This was not going well, he thought. This was not how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to go to the hospital, stay for a while, and come out with two little bundles. He should have known that it wouldn't happen that way. Life was never that easy for him or for Faith.

"Quit spacing out. Another contraction," Faith yelled at him, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

This was the part that he never got to experience before. Cordelia never came to term with those demon babies, thank goodness because he and Angel would have had to kill them immediately along with the fact that Cordelia probably would have been dead. And Connor was born only because Darla had staked herself from what Angel had told him. Nothing, even the films, and the child birthing class could prepare him for what Faith was going through right at that moment.

Faith was doing all of the work and he just watched it happen. Thank goodness human males couldn't have children. Faith bore down again, this time with results. The head came out with one huge push from Faith.

"You're almost there, sweetheart. Just one more push," he told her as he helped guide the head out.

Another excruciating push later, the rest of the child literally slithered out into his hands. Faith sat back, breathing a sigh of relief. Wesley quickly wrapped it in the clothes that he had found in the suitcase. The baby cried out, lungs apparently working just fine.

"Well, what is it? Don't hog it," Faith smiled up at him, feeling much better now.

He looked down in the clothing. "It's a boy," he told her, eyes tearing up at the sight.

He had a son. Something he didn't think would ever be possible. Faith grinned up at him, giving him the thumbs up sign.

"Holy shit," Willow called from the car door. "Why didn't you make it to the hospital?"

Thank goodness, he had help now. He didn't know how or why Willow was there. He was just glad she was.

"Not enough time," he whispered as he held his son close, trying to keep him warm.

"What is it? What is it? I can't see," Dawn said from the outside.

"Dawn, drive down the hill there, and get cell phone reception," Wesley told her as he looked down at Faith to see if she was alright.

"Aw, I just wanna see," she whined.

"Now," the three adults yelled.

"I wanna see," Faith told him as she panted with another contraction.

Wesley lowered the infant so she could see him. "See. He's beautiful."

"He looks like my grandpa with that face."

Willow laughed, tapping Wesley on the shoulder. "I am so glad that Giles fell asleep. This is so not what he needed to see. Listen, not to burst your bubble, but I think that number two isn't gonna wait any longer."

"Right, push," Faith moaned out, bearing down again.

Wesley quickly handed his son over to the wicca. "How did you know?"

"What? The fact that there's somethin' going on down there give you a clue."

Willow was right. The next baby was crowning. He was hoping that someone who actually knew what they were doing would show up and take over before that happened.

"You ready, Faith?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" she managed to get out after the contraction faded away.

"I don't think so," he answered, taking her hand in his.

"It can't be a girl," she chanted under her breath.

"It's OK, love. It will be alright," he told her, rubbing her hand gently.

Two more pushes later, the second infant came screaming into the world. Wesley smiled down at her, proud that she had done what she had done. Willow handed him some more clothes, which he wrapped around the second child, who was a bit smaller, but had dark hair also.

Wesley saw tears escape Faith's eyes now. She knew exactly what the second infant was before he could even tell her.

"Let me see her," Faith wanted.

Wesley handed the second infant to her, letting her hold it. Faith kissed the top of her head.

"She's beautiful, just like her mother."

Faith started crying in earnest now. Off in the distance, Wesley could hear the sounds of sirens. Too little, too late now.

 


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, this is it people. See you next time! Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve – Epilogue

Faith snuggled up to baby number one as Wesley snuggled up to baby number two on their bed at home. They hadn't named either one of them yet. They had only arrived home from the hospital a couple of hours before.

"OK, out with it, Wes," Faith said, wincing as baby number one sucked a little too hard nursing.

"I'm worried about Cordy. She's been through so much."

"Oh, like you haven't. It'll be fine. Angel will take care of her. Just be lucky they weren't here when these two decided to make their appearances. Thank God Giles wasn't there when they were born or Angel. They would have been all thumbs."

Wesley laughed. "You just didn't want them to see you giving birth."

"Hey, I didn't want you to see it either."

"But I've seen you before."

Faith stared at him, opened-mouth, reaching over to slap Wes's shoulder. "Where do you come up with those crass jokes, anyway?"

"Learned from the expert."

"Ha. Now what is really bothering you, besides Cordy."

"We haven't named them yet. Why don't you name the boy and I'll name the girl. Compromise?"

They had argued in the hospital over what to name them. So many names buzzed around in her head. Each time she suggested something, he would say no and vice versa. Thank goodness they had two, or they would never get named.

"Deal. You first. Come on, it was your idea."

Wesley had that I'm thinking hard face. "You'll laugh."

"Try me."

He reached over to stroke his infant son's face as he nursed. "Your grandmother's name was Grace, wasn't it?"

"Yes," she said hesitantly.

"Why don't we name the baby after her?"

Faith didn't know what to say. She didn't know he knew about her grandmother, the only blood relation that ever gave a damn about her. She had died when Faith was nine, leaving her to the devices of her mother. Her grandmother had been the only positive influence in her earlier years.

"I guess," Faith told him, not wanting to start crying.

"We could name her Cordelia Winifred Grace and call her Grace?"

Faith almost choked. He had wanted to put Cordy and Fred's names in front of Grace? What, was he kidding? But by the look on his face, he wasn't. She smiled when she saw the hesitant look on his face.

"Just as long as we don't call it Cordy."

"There is only one Cordy in the world, thank goodness. This one will be Grace. They will be honored, as I think that your grandmother would be honored too."

Faith smiled at his thoughtfulness. The other two women did mean a great deal to him. And she would do almost anything for him that he wanted.

"My turn?" she asked him. "OK, switch positions."

Wesley crawled over her as she made it to the other side of the bed to be near her daughter, now called Grace. Grace was getting fussy because she was just as hungry as her larger brother.

"Fire away."

"Liam Charles," she blurted out.

She knew she couldn't call it Angel. It would just be too weird. But Angel had told her at one point during one of the prison visits that his human name had been Liam. And she also just liked the name. The Charles would be for Gunn, who she knew would eventually make up with Wes for all that had happened between them. She'd see to it.

"Interesting choice. I like it."

"You're OK with it? You sure? I just thought it sounded nice, and with the last name that he'll have, it would just be easier to pronounce."

"It's perfect," he grinned back at her. "Will you marry me?"

Faith gasped, then choked when she swallowed wrong. Had she just heard him right? They hadn't discussed marriage at any time. As a matter of fact, they had both avoided the subject all together. She thought eventually they'd get around to it. Just not this soon.

"OK, I stuck my foot in my mouth on that one. I know we haven't discussed it, and I just thought."

Faith stopped him with a finger to his lips. "You're babbling."

"Yes, dear," he mumbled from underneath her finger.

"What'll you say guys?" she mock-asked the two babies. "He's a pretty good guy. Reads too many damn books, fights like a girl."

"Hey," Wesley protested. "Do not."

"OK. He fights better than he used to. He's funny, and useful around the house. Can make a mean cup of tea. He's kind of cute in that dorky way. He's a bit of a nerd. But really sexy and he'll defend you with his life if it came to that."

Wesley smiled widely at him. "Well, your mother is a bit of a bitch."

Faith covered Grace's ears. "Language."

"Just telling them the truth. They'll figure it out eventually. And she's tough, and beautiful and will be a great mother. And she can kick my ass if I don't behave."

Faith smacked him on the shoulder. "Focus."

"And I love her so much I sometimes can't stand it. So, what'll you say, kids?"

Both had fallen asleep in between their parents, completely oblivious to the conversation.

"We'll take that as a yes. This is probably as quiet as they'll ever be," Faith pointed out.

Wesley got up on his knees to kneel over Faith. She came to her knees right beside him. "I love you."

"I love you too, big guy. Do I have to wear white?"

"You can wear whatever you like."

"How about nothing?"

"I don't think that the guests will like that."

"They probably would, those perverts. Yes, yes, yes."

Just then, one of the infants started screaming, which made the other scream back.

"See? Told ya," Faith continued.

Wesley laughed and pulled her into an embrace.

* * *

In the future …

The alleyway was filled with demons of all shapes and sizes. The two in the middle fought them off as best they could.

"I told you not to come," the girl bellowed, backing up against the boy to cover his back.

"Do I ever listen?"

"Never."

They kept hacking away, taking some of the demons down. But there was just too many.

"This isn't working," the boy pointed out.

"No shit," the girl agreed, swinging out at a demon that tried to take a chunk out of the boy.

"Never thought it would end this way," the boy wanted the girl who defended him to know.

"Not over 'til it's over, boy."

Just then, a light came out of the girl, knocking the demons down. The girl collapsed against the boy, drained from the power she just emitted.

"Oh, crap. You're not supposed to do that," the boy pointed out, turning to his companion.

"Not much choice," she moaned out before slipping into unconsciousness.

The boy picked her up, since she was small and light as a feather, leaving the carnage in the alley for someone else to find and clean up.

"Da's gonna kill me. And your mom is gonna freak out. And Uncle Wes will have my hide. I'll let you explain it to them then."

The boy carried his fighting companion all the way home. Thank goodness she was with him that night. Being younger than she was, he wasn't even supposed to be out at night, much less fighting demons. His dad had forbid it. But he had followed her anyway. Now he was glad he did.

FIN


End file.
